I was broken
by spotylover
Summary: Ayla, a 20 year old girl with healing powers, is asked to join the Avengers after working with Helen Cho on the Cradle and participating on the Sokovia mission. But her powers have a nature that not even her understands and she's afraid of hurting her closest friends, Wanda and specially Pietro.
1. Chapter 1

I took the subway like every morning. I was slowly getting used to my new routine here in Seoul. I work for doctor Helen Cho in her laboratory. It's not really a job because I don't get payed, but the enterprise offered me a little apartment and they are in charge of the food and everything. I honestly just go there for sleeping, as I spend most of my day in the lab. I have been helping her now for like five months in her most ambitious project, based on synthetic tissue technology. I honestly don't know nothing about science, but what she's interested about my special abilities.

Today felt like the trip to the subway was specially boring so I put my sunglasses on to distract myself. I focused on the passenger who was in front of me, a middle-aged man reading a newspaper. Suddenly a white halo started surrounding him, starting from the heart and spreading to the rest of his body. It was not very intense and it had a yellow glow, which usually meant that he was not very healthy or was sick. That was one of my special abilities. I could see the life, or the quality of it by this halo. I just had to focus my attention in one person and I could see it. I'm able to do it since I was a child and still now that I'm 21 years old don't know where does it come from. I just can do it. Apparently when I do it my iris tends to get white, that's why I have to wear sunglasses. I analyzed the rest of the people in the wagon. There was a lady with a little baby in her arms and his light was the most shiny of all. Normally the younger the person is, the whiter and shinier is their light. The halo felt like a mirror of the heart.

I was getting near to my stop, so I got up and walked towards the doors. I stepped outside taking my sunglasses of as it was a rather cloudy day. I had to walk for about 15 minutes until getting to the laboratory. I started my way as I put my headphones and played random music from my phone. Helen called me the day before to inform me about the progresses on what she calls the Cradle. Apparently it was ready to use after months of tests and failures. My unique task in the project was checking if the tissue it created or re-growed added to the skin tissue of the subject successfully and if something went wrong be there to heal any imperfections. Yes, that was my other special ability. I can heal wounds, broken bones, bruises, cuts, whatever. I actually can heal myself without even wanting, it just heals, I cannot really control that part, which has got me into some trouble in the past. It obviously requires a lot of my energy, but I can take the energy from other people if I feel weak just by touching them.

As I was getting closer to the lab I saw a truck of the enterprise rushing outside the building, but I didn't gave much thought about it. When I got closer to the entrance I saw that the doors were opened, which was very out of the ordinary. I took of my headphones and walked inside. Normally there was much more activity by this time in the morning, so I stopped at the hallway and hesitated. The lights were on but I couldn't see a soul. Maybe everyone had a day off. But Helen called me yesterday so excited about the Cradle and asked me to come today, so I seriously doubted that she had forgotten. I decided to keep walking towards the Cradle room. I turned right in the main corridor and I saw the doors of the Cradle room wide open. I could see the inside of the room and it seemed chaotic. Documents in the floor, a light smoke fog...What happened? I rushed inside and in the moment I stepped in I was paralyzed at my sight.

 _-First of all, this fan fiction is inspired by The Avengers AOU. I've had added a new character that is supposed to represent the reader, Ayla, so you can imagine her as you wish. It is supposed to be a Pietro x reader fic, but I want to go deeper and give backstory to the new character so it might start a little slow. And yep, enjoy._


	2. Chapter 2

There were bodies on the floor and blood splattered everywhere. I felt kind of dizzy at this horrifying view, but I managed to focus my attention on the bodies to check if they were really dead. Yes, they were. No halo or light. I kept walking slowly in the room trying to control my shaky hands until I realized that the Cradle was not there. They had stolen the Cradle. The truck that I saw earlier. Now everything made sense. I was unblocking my phone ready to call the police when a low voice took my attention.

"Ayla...". It was Helen, calling me from a corner of the room. She was laying on the wall with blood in her hands. I sprinted towards her and I knelt by her side.

"Helen...You are going to be fine...I...Just let me." I was so shaky and anxious I couldn't even talk. Before she could answer I took her hand and placed mine on her wound, pressing it as carefully as I could. She nodded at me and I closed my eyes concentrating on the wound. I felt my energy through my body, going to my hand and flowing into the wound, reconstructing the tissue. A shaky glow could be seen through my hand. I was so focused that I didn't realized that someone had rushed inside the room and was staring at us. It took me not longer than 20 seconds to heal her and I immediately checked if she was alright.

"Mr. Rogers..." I looked in the same direction she did to find a man standing upon as. He knelt near Helen to check on the wound I just healed with a confused look. "They stole the Cradle. Ultron did. You have to get it back and give it to Stark." I obviously knew who he was. He and his team were all over the news lately. The one and only Captain America.

"We will." He dedicated one more look to Helen and he walked out of the room with his shield in his back. While he stepped out I could hear he whispered "There's another enhanced."

I helped Helen to get up and with the word Captain America has used to describe me: enhanced. Then I drove my attention back to Helen.

"What happened? Who is that Ultron?" I was so confused about everything but Helen graciously ignore me while she looked for something on the tables. She found her phone and called without answering me. I expected she was calling the police or the hospital so just I just stayed still looking at my shaky bloody hands still not believing what was happening.

"Agent Hill" I heard Helen talking on the phone. "Ultron has the Cradle. Yes, Rogers came but it was too late. Ok, we will wait in the heliport." She hung up the phone and took my hand.

"Come on, I will explain everything, but we have to get out of here."

"But what about them..." I said pointing the dead bodies as we rushed out of the room.

"They will take care of them, don't worry" I could see her sad expression when she gave his fellow scientists a last glance.

"I know you are confused and scared, so I will try to summarize. Ultron is an artificial intelligence experiment from Mr Stark which did not really come out as expected."

"Wait, Iron Man is in this too?" I could not assimilate that the Avengers were involved in this issues, they seemed almost unreal for me.

"Yes, he has been helping me with the Cradle too. What worries us is that Ultron has a rather annoying intention of destroying the human race by creating a new being with the Cradle."

"Wait wait wait." I run a couple of steps ahead to look at Helen's eyes while we got out of the main hallway directing to the stairs. "But the Cradle cannot create tissue from nothing. It's impossible."

"He managed to do it. With vibranium." She didn't even tried to explain it further as I wouldn't understand a single thing. We kept going upstairs until we got to the roof where the heliport was placed. I put my hair in a high ponytail as it was freaking windy as I looked around.

"Who were you talking with on the phone? I assume it wasn't the police."

"No. It was them." She said while pointing a black spot in the sky. It seemed like a plane on the distance but as it came closer I could see it was more like a modern jet kind of thing. We stepped back when it landed on the heliport. It was not very big but still impressive. The back opened letting down a little ramp. Helen looked at me and went inside. I followed her having the feeling that we were not going to be back at Seoul any time soon.


	3. Chapter 3

We got into the jet as the door closed behind as to find a women dressed in a dark blue uniform with an eagle sign on it. She was holding a tablet with one hand as she offered us to sit in the lateral of the inside with the other. Helen first crossed some greeting words with the women and then sit beside me. The jet took off and I couldn't feel more uncomfortable. I mean I wasn't a fan of flying and I felt pretty out of place.

"So, this is the girl?" the women said pointing at me with the tablet. I looked at her and nodded doubtfully.

"Yes, she is Ayla." Helen looked at me. "I believe you will find your equipment in the helicarrier, right Maria?"

"Wait, equipment for what? Can someone speak clear?" my confused face said everything. I was completely lost.

"As I've been informed you have some special abilities that we would like to take advantage from, if it's okay. Healing and scanning life, if I'm not wrong." she checked her tablet. So she had information about me. I guessed Helen told her everything she knew, which made me feel a little betrayed. I usually didn't like to talk lightly about my powers.

"Yes, but wait a second, _we_? Who?"

"For S.H.I.E.L.D. As you may already know we are having some trouble with the Avengers initiative."

"Everybody knows, they are all over the news."

"Exactly, well we want you to be part of their next objective." She lent me her tablet. There were images of a little city."That town is Sokovia, located in Eastern Europe. That is where we believe Ultron is going to take his plans to the extreme. Does she know about Ultron?" Maria and Helen shared a glance and she nodded.

"I explained her everything while you were coming."

"And what am I supposed to do there?" I gave the tablet back to Maria.

"Initially your task is to heal the civilians. We will use some life-saving carriers to take them out of Sokovia. You have to make sure most of them survive if there's an attack and that they can walk by themselves to the carriers. If everything goes as planned, that's your mission. If any Avenger is hurt it's your choice to heal them, depending on how serious the wounds are. Understood?"

I was going to nod, but I was trying to analyze every word she said and suddenly I felt an unbearable pressure on me. And the doubts started filling my mind. I don't think I could sleep peacefully if I let someone die because I'm not capable of saving them. It was a huge deal and they were giving me no time to think about it, which made feel even more anxious.

"I don't know the limits of my powers, I-i don't even know if I will be able to heal everybody...Are you sure you want me in there..?"

"It's better than nothing." she got up as the jet started slowing down, ready to land. Helen put a hand on my shoulder and nodded lightly. "You will do fine. You just have to believe a little more on yourself." I looked at her. She seemed to truly think that. If someone knew my powers in this world it was Helen. I took a deep breath and looked at Maria.

"I will do it. But I can't assure you total success."

The jet landed and opened the back door turning into a ramp showing an inside hangar full of more of those jets. We walked out of it and I looked around confused, because it didn't feel like we were on the ground at all. I could still see the clouds through where the jet had came in. I followed Maria and Helen through some corridors until what seemed to be the front of the helicarrier and the control room. There was a huge window in the front where you could clearly see we were still flying. Great. Maria started talking with some of the people I guessed she was in charge of. I stood near to Helen until she saw a big man with a long black coat wearing a patch on his left eye. They crossed some greetings and Helen pointed me as he put his only on me. I walked closer to them.

"So you must be Ayla." he said analyzing me. His expression made me think that probably he expected more from me. I was wearing an old gray hoodie and jeans, so yes, I didn't look very much of a serious business at the moment. I nodded at him because I was too intimidated to speak.

"I assume Mrs. Hill has informed you about your duty."

"Yes, and I'll try to do it as best as I can." I was trying so hard to please this people and I didn't know anything about them. Luckily Maria interrupted our passionate conversation.

"Apparently Stark has the Cradle in his laboratory. Banner and Burton are with him. Rogers is currently going there with the Maximoff twins, who apparently are now on our side. But Ultron managed to kidnap Natasha and we have lost track of her. Burton is trying to find her. Thor is still missing to."

"At least we have the Cradle. Keep in touch with them to know their next movement. Ayla, Agent Hill will take to your provisional room. Helen, I'd like to discuss a couple of things." While the man walked away with Helen I followed Maria to my room. I tried to memorize the corridors we were walking trough but there were so many and so identical that it felt like a maze. Maria opened one completely random door that led into a room with a bed, a wardrobe and a bathroom. It wasn't very big but I was not going to be there for a long time.

"We have prepared something more...appropriate for tomorrow's mission. You will find in the wardrobe. Try to rest and sleep, we will wake up you around 9:00. If you have any problem, Dr. Cho will be in the room in front of yours."

"Thanks, night." I closed the door when she walked away and sit on the bed. I still had the backpack I carried this morning. I only had my phone, with no battery obviously, the sunglasses, my apartment keys and some trash. I looked at the black screen of my phone distressed. Sometimes I wish I could call someone to just talk. Or say goodbye. I haven't speak with my dad since I was 15, when I run away from home. If you could call that home.

I stood up and walked towards the wardrobe and opened it. I found a couple of tight, high waisted black leggings and some gray jumpers made with a stronger material to what I was used to with the eagle sign on it, the S.H.I.E.L.D sign I assumed. Also they apparently chose some black underwear and running sneakers. I washed my face in the bathroom and took a fast cold shower to clear my mind. They also left a t-shirt and a loose short as a pyjama I guess. I put it on and with my still wet brown hair I slipped inside the bed. Not very comfortable, but I had slept in worse places. It was honestly too soon to go to bed, but I just needed to analyze everything that had happened today and rest so I could fully use my powers tomorrow. I closed my eyes as I my mind repeated the images and words that I lived during this past hours and after some time I juts felt asleep.

 _Thanks for all the favs and follows 3_


	4. Chapter 4

A knock on the door woke me up, then someone came into my room. I slowly opened my eyes to find Helen siting on the edge of the bed.

"Are you ready?" She smiled at me, but I could see she was worried.

"Five more minutes..." I joked and turned around. We both laughed and I got out of the bed.

"I think I have slept like two summers. Like honestly, when I got inside the bed it was still daytime." I washed my face as I talked. Helen got up and was going to leave the room.

"Do you want some coffee or something?" she asked.

"I can't say no to coffee." She left the room smiling. I stretched a little bit and yawned. I changed my clothes to the ones they had prepared. I wasn't into really tight clothes, but the leggings were incredibly comfortable, and I could wear the gray hoodie everyday. I looked myself in the mirror combing my hair and I put it up on a ponytail. Helen came in with the coffees and we both went out of the room to the control station of the helicarrier. I left my backpack and my clothes in the room, having the slight hope that when this was over I could go get them back by myself.

Apparently the Avengers were already in Sokovia getting as many civilians out of the town as they could. Maria was walking through the room giving simple fast orders to the people who were working there. The helicarrier was still flying over the clouds, I guessed over Sokovia. Helen waved at Maria and she came near us.

"I will take you the life-saving carriers in a minute, I just have to make sure everyone knows what to do." I nodded and I felt a hand on my shoulder. The man with the patch on the eye was there too.

"I have to say that this uniform makes you look much more professional. So, are you ready to be an everyday hero?" Calling me a hero was like too much, I felt like an auxiliary nurse or something like that rather than a hero. I was not an Avenger whatsoever. I just nodded at him as convinced as I could look.

"Fury, we have a problem." Maria shouted. "Sokovia is no longer on the ground. Ultron is taking it in the air." Fury approached to Maria in a fast rush, and he checked her tablet.

"This is why he needed vibranium...Son of a bitch...Take her to the carriers, we have to be fast." Maria started walking towards me, and I just had seconds to dedicate a goodbye look to Helen.

"You can do it." She whispered, then Maria took me by the arm and I had to follow her to the carriers. I felt like I was going to puke as we walked through the corridors. Luckily I didn´t. When we arrived she opened the doors of the first carrier and looked at me.

"Remember, as many as civilians as you can. The Avengers will deal with the rest." I agreed and came into the carrier. At least I was not alone. There were like three men there that would help me with people I guessed. The helicarrier started descending as Maria closed the doors. I could see the sky through the windows. Suddenly Sokovia appeared to our view. It was floating in the air and there were like silvered iron-mans flying around it and shooting lasers. I guessed they were the bad guys. It was honestly not a bad view, rather disturbing, but beautiful too. The first carrier, our carrier, took off from the hangar and started flying towards Sokovia. Why everything had to take place in the air? I hated flying and heights. The carrier landed in one of the extremes of the town and the doors opened. Capitan America was there waiting for the carriers to arrive. His suit was dirty and partially covered with blood, but he seemed fine. I made eye contact with him and he recognized me.

"What are you doing here?" he looked kind of confused, but I was convinced of my duty.

"I must heal the wounded civilians and make sure everyone is safe in the carriers. You have to help me get to them." I said pointing the nearest building where they were hiding. Capitan America was still confused so I placed my hand on his, where he had a light cut and healed it in less than 5 seconds. At this sight he placed his shield as a barrier so we could get to the civilians safe and we started running towards the building. Once inside I focused on their bodies to see their halos. I could also see their wounds and how serious they were. Some broken bones, some deep cuts and a lot of burns. I started rushing though the people who were more severely harmed. I rushed to them, knelt and just place my hands on the wounds. I concentrated as much as I could so the process would be faster. One broken bone fixed, next. I just run to the civilians and whispered them "sorry" or "trust me" or things like that. It took me about 3 minutes to heal the ones who needed, about 40 people. I nodded at Captain America, who was waiting at the entrance and he made a sign so the civilians could run to the carriers. Everyone could go there by themselves, so my duty was going as planned so far. The first carrier took off with the civilians in it. I had to stay in Sokovia until the last carrier left. Cap took me with some more civilians who where hiding in a little shop. I just repeated the process. After this last group I noticed I was getting tired fastly. But we couldn't stop now. We replayed the process 3 more times until there were no more civilians in Sokovia. I went to the last carrier with the last group and waited for Captain America, but he wasn't there. We had to wait for the Avengers because they were supposed to leave in this carrier. A lot of explosions and destruction could be heard in the distance. I just took a deep breath as I was exhausted.

After some minutes a blue blur crossed the square followed by Thor, Captain America and Hawkeye. They approached the carrier as I waited for them to get in. Cap put a hand on my shoulder.

"You did a great job out there." He dedicated an honest smile at me as Hawkeye entered the carrier and Thor checked the place for more enemies. I realized that the blue burr that I saw earlier was a man when he stayed still. A young man with white hair. I was getting inside the carrier when Hawkeye rushed out of it to the shop in the square. I stood up and apparently there was a kid there. I felt so guilty because it was my duty to make them all safe in the carriers, thank God Hawkeye saw him...He took the kid in his arms and he was coming to the carrier when a machine-gun started shooting not very far from us. It was actually a couple of meters ahead of Hawkeye and the child. The machine-gun was being shot from a little aircraft and it moved too fast to even assimilate what was going to happen. Hawkeye turned to his back to protect the kid as the bullets came closer to him. I was horrified, because it was all my fault. Hawkeye was going to die because of me. But in the last moment a blue blur moved him and the white-haired guy took his place. It was like watching it in slow-motion. Dozens of bullets going through his body as he sacrificed himself for them. The aircraft left and the guy just stood there a couple of seconds until he fell to the ground. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was paralyzed, terrified. Captain America run and took the lifeless body with him as Hawkeye and Cap came back to the carrier. My heart felt like if it was going to escape from my body. They placed the man's body in the ground and Hawkeye left the kid with his mom and he lay down next to him. I couldn't stop staring at his lifeless body. Guilt was growing on me as I felt a giant hole in my chest. It was all my fault. I focused on his body without even trying. And then I saw it. It was impossible that it was real. My mind had to be tricking me, I was tired and confused. But it seemed real. As the carrier took off from what was left of Sokovia I fell on my knees losing my balance really close to his body. I looked closer to his chest where this little trembling blue light was, right in his heart. It was real, it was there. There was hope for him.

"He's alive..." I whispered, not believing my words. "HE'S ALIVE!"


	5. Chapter 5

Think fast. I grabbed his hand and started transferring energy to his body, focusing in his heart. I could feel it beating, really slowly, but it did. Healing him was not an option. Some bullets were still inside his body and it would consume too many of my resting energy, so I just tried to keep him alive, keep his heart beating. I didn't know how long I could stay like this, as I was exhausted from healing all that people back there.

"Is it true? He's alive?" I could hear Hawkeye siting in front of me as he spoke. Cap was there too.

"He is, but I cannot heal him. I just can keep his heart beating, but I don't know for how long..." I was starting to get dizzy, everything on my view was turning blurry. I've never felt that weak.

"Tie our hands, I have to be touching him to..." I felt like I was going to faint. Cap ripped a belt from one of the sits and tied our hands with that. I could hear them talking, probably at me, but I didn't understand a thing. Cap was trying to say something, but I started seeing everything black. He was grabbing me from my shoulders when I started falling to the ground, next to the white-haired guy. I was able to mumble something before passing out.

"Don't untie us until he's stable, no matter what happens."

The last thing I saw before fainting was the guy's face.

 _Maybe this is a dream. Or memories, I can't tell the difference. It feels like flying. No, someone is picking me up. Noises can be heard in the distance. People shouting, people running. Then everything turns white. Am I dead? I see a strong white light but there are more people with me. Their faces are covered and their hands are cold. I feel a sting in my arm. But it's nothing compared with the pain I feel in my head. My body hurts too. I feel every pore in my body like it was on fire but I can't scream. I can't move. Like if I were in a cage. Suddenly, peace and silence. I can hear my own heartbeat. Whats that scent? Flowers? My head burns, but I'm so cold I'm shaking. It feels like I have been like this for ages. And then I could open my eyes._

It took me some seconds to get used to the light that came through the window. I was laying down in a bed, covered with sheets and what seemed to be a black blanket. The room was not very big and there was a tiny table in one of the sides of the bed. Over it there was a vase with a white rose. It obviously wasn't my room, and it didn't look like a hospital. There were two doors in the room. I wanted to stand up and investigate, but as I tried to sit in the bed my whole body ached, so I lay down again. I wasn't healing. And I remembered. The carrier, Sokovia and that boy. He wasn't in the room. He didn't make it? The noise of steps outside cut my thoughts and I stared at the door. I sighed relieved when I saw Helen opening the door in front of me.

"You are awake!" at first she was surprised but in a second a full smile lightened her face.

"Helen! Where am I? What happened? My powers!" I had too many questions and she just shushed me and sat in the bed beside me.

"Let's start from the beginning. You have been in coma for about a week." What the hell? Coma? I was going to ask her about, but she kept talking.

"You passed out when you arrived to the helicarrier. Steve and Clint had to take you and Pietro to the infirmary."

"Pietro?"

"Oh, the one who was shot. Pietro Maximoff, or Quicksilver. He's fine, when they extracted the resting bullets he began healing by himself. Fast metabolism. He has come everyday to check if you were fine. He even slept here the first night. Also he left that." She said pointing to the rose on the table.

"So he could have healed or...?"

"No, not with bullets inside. If you wouldn't have keep his heart beating he would have died. His sister is really thankful, she has come to visit you some days too. And the other Avengers of course."

"Avengers? They are all...here? Helen, where am I?" Although everything started to make sense, it all was pretty confusing. I guess that's the effect of being sleeping for an entire week.

"Right now we are in the new Avengers Headquarters. It's a new base designed not only for the Avengers to train and live, but dedicated to science and investigation too. I will show you your new house later."

"My new house? Am I going to live here now?"

"Of course Ayla. You are an Avenger." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How am I...I mean, an Avenger, me?"

"Steve insisted. You risked your life to save Pietro's. It's not easy to find people like you. And your powers are very useful in combat, as well as for investigation."

"About my powers, my body hurts like hell when I try to stand up, I'm not healing. What if I lost them?" This was the issue that most worried in the moment. I have always have my powers and to just think in the possibility of having lost them terrified me, I'm not quite sure why. Maybe because they made me special I guess.

"Oh no no, your power is fine, is still there. The thing is that you overused it healing Pietro. Now you are recovering your energy. Not being able to heal has caused you fever and some other symptoms of what we normally know as the flu. But it hit you strong. One night you reached 41º degrees. It is normal that it aches, you will be fine in a couple of days." She seemed so confident that I believed every word she said. So my powers were "resting" we could say.

"So if you feel better I suggest you take a shower and get dressed so you can rest in your room a couple days more." She pointed the second door that was on the room, the bathroom. She kept moving around the room as I tried to get up and go have a shower. She was talking about some medical or scientific stuff, I didn't even know anymore. I was wearing the typical hospital blue dress that was opened in the back, which was pretty comfortable I have to admit. I could get out of the bed easly, with pain, but it was bearable. I walked towards the bathroom as Helen went out of the room.

"I'll bring some clothes, i'll be right back!"

I entered to the white bathroom, pretty minimalist everything, the shower was quite big though. I took off the dress and had a quick shower. The water felt so weird on my body. I was like if my skin was more sensitive. It didn't take me long but it surely relaxed me a lot. I put a towel around my body and I returned to the room. Helen was there already with some clothes. Actually those were my clothes. I guessed they took some stuff from my apartment in Seoul. She brand black leggings and a white t-shirt with a comic style POW written on it. The struggle to put on those clothes was real, like I couldn't lift my legs more than five inches without feeling pain. But I successfully got dressed. It honestly felt like the achievement of the year for me.

"Let's go!" Helen looked way more excited than me. Before heading out I took the white rose. When we were leaving I realized that the black blanket was a jumper. It had some lines in the sides of the arms and it had the Adidas logo on the front. I just put it on too as I was kind of cold with the wet hair and so. I followed Helen out of the room and we entered to an elevator which was across the corridor. She was blabbing about how amazing that place was, but I was feeling kind of anxious. I mean, I have to live with the Avengers, I don't really know any of them. And what if my powers are not as impressive as the expect? What if I'm not enough? We kept walking when the elevator got to the first floor. Apparently the base was divided into different paths of investigation, such as science, medicine, history and myths, astrology or space. The back part of the building was dedicated to the Avengers training. There were various rooms to practice different fighting techniques, like boxing, shooting and so on. We stepped out of the building, leading to like the back garden. The actual headquarters were surrounded by a forest, and it was kind of weird seeing the minimalism of the building in such a natural environment. We walked towards the forest following a little path and not longer after a few steps a house appeared to our sight. It looked like a huge chalet, and it certainly felt more like a home, warmer than my rusty apartment in Seoul. Helen said that she had to go back to work and she left. She mentioned that I had some time until the Avengers arrived from training, so I could investigate the house a little bit by myself. I just stared at it for some seconds. My new home.

 _Thank you so much for all your nice reviews! I'll probably update every two or three days._


	6. Chapter 6

The house was huge, much bigger than what I have expected. There were three floors, which by the way killed me in the moment. If my body ached when I walked, I cannot tell you about it when I had to walk up the stairs. Anyway, I investigated the ground floor. There was a kitchen, a huge living room with white minimalist but big couches, a tv and a dining room. There were no walls, it was like an opened space that was surrounded by wide windows. There was a garden in the outside and I think I saw a pool but I wasn't sure and I wasn't going to check it now.

I went upstairs, to the second floor. The first thing you could see was a long wide corridor and a bunch of doors in the sides, which I guessed were the rooms. I wasn't sure about what to expect about my room. Luckily the names were written on the doors so it was easy to find mine. I could not hide my surprise when I came into my room. It was exactly the same room I had in Seoul, but bigger. Everything was there, my laptop, the same bed, even the bag I left in the helicarrier. I wandered around just to make sure everything was there. I placed the white rose on the table near my bed. They had payed attention to every detail. I noticed there was a door that in the original room wasn't there. I opened it and I gladly found I had my own bathroom. In Seoul the whole block had to share the same bathroom, which was pretty annoying. But here I even had my own bathtub. I was going to change my clothes into something more "me" for saying it like that, as I was still wearing the jumper I found on the bed at the headquarters, which I believed belonged to Pietro, when I heard the door opening. They were here. My heart started to beat as fast as hell. They intimidated me too much. I breathed slowly a couple of times and I walked towards the stairs.

When I got to the ground floor they were all moving around, some in the couches, other in the kitchen. But one girl with long brown hair, who looked like my age, stared at me and smiled. Honestly it was one of the most genuine smiles I've ever seen, like if she was truly happy to see me.

"Ayla!" she said while she walked towards me. I was going to say hi, but she just hugged me when she reached me. It hurted a bit but I hugged her back, she seemed nice.

"Thank you so much. I could never thank you enough for saving my brother." Her voice trembled a bit when she said that, and noticed she had a lovely eastern-European accent. She stepped back and all the Avengers were there in a circle around us. I was glad Cap was there, as he was the only one I had spoken with, or at least I knew a bit.

"I'm glad to see you standing again! They didn't know when you would wake up." he said, and he seemed truly concerned about me.

"It still hurts a bit, but I'm fine. Helen said I should rest for a couple more days and it should be ok."

Cap smiled and started introducing me to the rest, as some faces were totally new to me. I knew Black Widow and Hawkeye, who wasn't here, but the others, I had no clue. I've always called them by their hero names, it was going to be so weird to use their real names. Steve, Natasha, Rhodes Sam, Wanda and Vision. This last didn't even looked human, which kind of freaked me out a bit, but if he was an Avenger he had to be someone trustworthy.

"It's going to take me sometime to get them all. And where's Pietro?" I said smiling and looking around.

"Ironically he's not a friend of timetables." Steve said, kind of annoyed.

"He mentioned he wanted to check on you after training. He'll be here soon" Wanda defended her brother with a playful smile. After this they started to organize everything for lunch. Meanwhile Wanda showed me the rest of the house. It was so nice talking with her, it felt like we were already friends. Well, I haven't had many close friends when I was younger but I guessed this is what it feels like. She showed me her room, which was in front of mine. Everything was so organized compared to mine, and she had little lights hanging all over the place.

Then we went up to the third floor, which was a relaxing zone. There was a TV, what I think it was a Play Station, one long couch and some other stuff. It was very minimalist, but still warm and welcoming. Apparently in the basement they had a gym, but they usually used the one in the headquarters, as it was bigger and had specialized training equipment for their powers and abilities. We went downstairs as lunch was almost ready.

"At first they wanted us to eat at the headquarters, so we didn't have to worry about this home stuff. But it seems more like a...normal life." Wanda had a nostalgic look on her face but in the moment we sit in the long table she was cheerful again. They had food prepared, they just had to heat it and serve it. I guess some of them didn't really had time to develop their cooking skills. I was between Wanda and Sam, and they joked as we ate. It didn't take me long to be confident with them, it was a very relaxed atmosphere. We were already finishing when the front door opened and a blue blur came in the room and sit in the place beside Wanda.

"Better late than ever!" Sam said. And there he was, Pietro. At first it was sort of disturbing to see him, I mean, the last time I saw him he was practically dead. He caught me looking at him.

"You are here! I've been looking for you. I couldn't find Cho either. How are you feeling?" he said while he ate at an impressive fast speed. So he was fast for everything.

"Great! Everything aches a bit, but it's fine." I said smiling. They truly cared. They barely even knew me but still they were concerned about how I was. He nodded with a light smirk. When we finished Pietro cleaned the dishes in like less than a minute. I was heading to my room to take a nap but someone grabbed my arm carefully. I turned and it was Pietro.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

"If it's about the jumper, I was going to give it back." I said nervously. He intimidated me much more than the others. He was way taller than me and almost as muscled as Cap. And the white hair gave him such a mysterious look. But he seemed kind. I could tell by his eyes.

"No no, you can keep it." he mentioned smiling. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry." I didn't want to give it more importance. "I mean you did the same with Hawkeye."

"Why did you do it?" I couldn't see his smirk anymore, he was being hella serious.

"Being honest, I don't know. I guess I felt guilty." He gave a confused look. "The kid should have been in the carrier. It was my fault. But in the moment I saw you laying there...I felt I had to do it. I just couldn't let you die." He just nodded and his smirk was back.

"Thank you." I shyly nodded and turn around to go to my room.

"Em...I can give you a tour around the headquarters as a payment." His voice sounded playful behind me.

"It is a very attractive proposal, but I don't think I can walk around for a long time without fainting." I turned to face him as I talked. I was smiling but I truly meant that. I just needed to rest, and although I wouldn't mind spending time with him, I wasn't able to even go upstairs without feeling pain.

"Who said you had to walk?" He approached me and picked me up in his arms.

"Oh wait wait, there's no need to..." our faces were too near and I could appreciate better his big blue eyes. My face was probably red at this point. I was not used to dealing with man.

"Hold on tight." I placed one arm behind his neck and the other hand on his chest, which was kind of awkward for me, we literally just met and he was picking me up like a princess. I admit he made me nervous, not in a bad way, but you couldn't deny he was attractive, and he knew it. He hella knew it. He rushed out the house and in terms of seconds we were inside the headquarters.

He started showing me the places where they trained every morning. The gym, the shooting place, boxing ring...He seemed to enjoy this trainings. He mentioned he usually spent most of his day running, so that he could run for more time and get less tired. He showed me the labs, where he usually annoyed the staff when he was bored. The headquarter had like underground floors, most of them dedicated to science and investigation, and apparently he had gone through them all.

"I know everything that happens here. And they don't even have a clue I've been around." he said pointing some scientists in front of us. On to the next place, apparently they also had a part in the headquarters in which they investigated about ancient myths and art, specially Nordic, basically because of Thor. He didn't gave much importance to this part, but I found it the most interesting. I've always been keen on art and history, but I've never had the resources. Internet of course helped, but I'd enjoy going to museums or having physical material to read. He was blabbing about how not interested he was in this part when we mentioned there was a huge library in the upper floors.

"A library?! Can we go? Please, please..." I was genuinely begging him with the best puppy eyes I could make.

"Okay fine." He smirked and rushed to the library. He slowly left me in the floor when we were in front of the door. I looked at him smiling and I opened the door. It wasn't heavy but my arms ached, but I managed to open it. When I saw the inside I barely could make any sound. It was huge and full of books, and shelves that divided them with tags like history, art, literature, science fiction...This was my new favorite place on earth. I didn't care about the pain anymore and I walked towards the nearest shelf. They were very tall too, but there were stairs to reach the books on the top. I couldn't content my excitement and I kept smiling like a silly child. I reached the center of the room where I found huge individual couches and puffs. There were no lamps, but the light in the room was impressive due to this glass structure that was in the front that reached the top too. It was like an eternal window. Pietro followed me closely, without saying a word. I guessed he was not as impressed as I was. He sit in one of the couches while I went through the near shelves and mumbled the names of books I knew or that were about issues that I was interested. I was going through a section of literature of the 16th century and I found it. Shakespeare. When I was in school my literature teacher always said he was a genius. So I picked some of them to read this couple of days. _Hamlet_ , _The merchant of Venice_ and _Romeo and Juliet._ I returned with Pietro, who looked bored siting alone in the couch. I felt bad for leaving him on his own, but I couldn't hide my wide smile, with my new Shakespeare books in my hands.

"I've never seen someone this excited about books." he said smiling while he got up and in a second he was beside me looking the books I had in my hands.

"Do you think they'd mind if I borrow these?"

"Take whatever you want." He picked me up again with a smirk on his face. "C'mon, it's getting late." Late? I looked through the wide window before rushing out of the library and I realized there were just a few sun rays left in the sky. We've spent all the evening together. And we didn't stay for long in the library, like just 30 minutes. I couldn't even blink and we were at the house again. I could get used to be carried around this fast. He carefully dropped me in the front door and opened it. There was not many activity, some were already having dinner in the couches watching TV. We approached the living room and say hi. Wanda, Vision, and Nat were there. Apparently Rohdney went back home when he could, but I didn't know where Steve and Sam were. Pietro sat beside Wanda.

"And those books?" Nat wondered.

"I took them from the library. It's Shakespeare." I answered smiling. "I'm going to leave them in my room and I'll be right back." I turned to the stairs, went up and into my room. I noticed how exhausted I was when I got to my room. All my body still ached, but I'd got used to it through the day. I left _Hamlet_ on the table beside my bed, as I wanted to read it first, and the others on the desk where my laptop was. I went downstairs and joined the group in the couches. I sat next to Pietro and Steve and Sam came after some minutes. We had dinner, chatted, watched tv and joked during the rest of the night. It was a fun night, and it felt so normal, even if I was surrounded by people extraordinarily gifted, it felt like a family.

It was about midnight and we were watching a random movie that they showed on tv, but I was so tired that I couldn't help it and felt asleep laying on Pietro's shoulder, not intentionally. I was still asleep when someone picked me up and carried me to my room, but I slightly opened my eyes to look up. I already knew it without having to look at him, Pietro was carrying me. I rested my head on his chest while he went upstairs. He was not using his powers, maybe he didn't want to wake me up. He pushed my room's door and carefully left me on my bed covering me with the sheets. He sit on the bed beside me for some time before leaving and closing door trying not to make any noise.


	7. Chapter 7

The sun rays that came through the window woke me up. I slowly stretched to check if it still hurt. I felt better than yesterday, the pain was almost gone. How long have I been sleeping? I couldn't hear a noise in the house, so I assumed they all were training in the headquarters. I put some comfortable clothes on, took my _Hamlet_ book and went downstairs. I had a light breakfast and my intention was to read in the couches but the sun seemed so nice that I went to the back garden. There were some of those hammocks that hang from the trees, so I layed down in one of them. I opened _Hamlet_ and started reading it. The sun didn't burn on my skin, and it was fresh outside so it was the perfect weather. I spent there the whole morning and I almost finished the book. But I couldn't stop thinking about Pietro. He has been really nice with me so far, but I didn't completely trust him. I didn't trust any of them 100%. Maybe the one I trusted the most was Wanda. But I knew Pietro had a darker side. I know he annoys people and plays with his powers as he told me, but that's not what I meant. I liked that playful side that he had. But I felt he was hiding something. I will try to talk to Wanda about this eventually.

It was almost lunch time, so I went back to my room, had a fast shower and put the same clothes back, an old t-shirt and shorts. I prepared the table for lunch, and as I was finishing they arrived. Everything was going nice while we ate until Nat asked me something.

"So Ayla, you will start training in a couple of days. Have you ever fought, or shoot a gun?"

"No, never. I've never been in a situation in which I needed that skills or anything." Shooting and kicking asses? Nope, I've never been in a fight.

"So it's obvious that you've never killed somebody." I felt a shiver on my back and accidentally dropped the fork.

"I...I have, but it was an accident..." I've never talked about this with anyone. It's something I have always kept for myself, and the fact of speaking about it just made it too real and I couldn't take it.

"How? With your powers?" At this point of the conversation all of them were paying attention to what we said.

"Kind of...I can give life, but I can also...take it. But in the moment I don't...I can't control it...If my body feels I'm in danger it will do anything to keep me alive and..." I couldn't, I felt I was going to cry but I managed to not do it.

"I'm not feeling well, excuse me." I got up and went straight to my room and closed the door. This is not the way I want them to see me, like a freaking child. I tried to breathe slowly to relax myself because I felt my hands shaking and I tried with all my self not to cry. I thought I had assumed that accident, but the fact that I've never shared it with anyone made it like less real. Like if it was a myth. Maybe she was used to killing, if you ever could get used to it, but I couldn't. Someone knocked on the door.

"I-I'm fine." I tried my voice to sound convincing but it was easily noticeable I wasn't. Nat and Wanda opened the door and came inside my room.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this." Nat apologized with a sad expression and Wanda put a hand on my shoulder. We sat on the bed.

"Do you want to talk about it? You may feel better." I knew Wanda was trying to comfort me and Nat too, but I couldn't content the tears anymore. It was not like I was crying like a baby, they were just tears, but I didn't feel sad or anything, just nervous, anxious. I haven't noticed but Pietro was in the room too, as well as Steve, Sam and Vision, who were gathering in the door. So I nodded and decided it was about time to confess.

"I've always have my powers, since I was born. I don't know how or where do they come from. Definitely not from my dad, and I didn't had the chance to meet my mom. Apparently there were some problems during my birth. I was almost dead inside my mom and the doctors were sure I wouldn't make it. But in the last moment apparently my mom fainted and her pulse was lower and lower...until she died. They managed to take me out and I was way more healthy than what they expected. They thought it was a miracle." I stopped for a second to take a deep breath. Wanda held my hand as I continued.

"My dad never forgave me, he blamed me everyday. We hardly ever talked about mom. I spent most of my childhood alone. He was never a dad, he hardly ever took care of me. When I was 15 I run away, and I haven't heard about him since then. I know all of this because I went to the hospital when I was about 18 to know more, and the doctors told me what happened." I paused again as I was going to say what I've never wanted to assume.

"I killed my mom. This stupid gift did. It did everything to keep me alive. And it can happen again. There are things I still don't control..." I stopped there. I thought I was going to feel bad, but instead I felt relieved. Like if I had dropped a huge weight.

"It was not your fault. It's impossible you could have control it." Pietro said. He meant it like if he had felt the same way.

"Your gift has saved more people than you think. You should be proud. We will help you controlling it." Steve seemed concerned about this. They started to go back to their normal issues. Nat apologized a couple of times, but I actually thanked her. I spent the whole afternoon with Nat and Wanda, talking about nothing and everything, stuff we liked and so. We talked about boys, specially about Wanda and Vision who seemed to be really close. Nat mentioned that they were still looking for Bruce, Bruce Banner I guessed. They haven't had news about him since Sokovia. I didn't have much to tell in the boys conversation. I've never had a boyfriend or nothing like that. Wanda wondered about who was the most attractive of the Avengers, and she did it knowing what my answer would be. I said Pietro, too convinced and too fast.

The rest of the evening was chill and relaxed, we had dinner and then I went to my room to finish _Hamlet._ I went to bed early because I wanted to start training tomorrow, and I needed to be ready and fresh. I felt pretty good, almost no pain and I was very motivated after today's chat. I woke up at 7:30, had shower and put my training clothes on, which very similar to the ones I wore in Sokovia. I joined everyone in the living room while they had breakfast.

"Are you coming today?" Pietro seemed really excited about it. He rushed beside me with a mug filled with coffee.

"Oh yeah and I'm gonna kick your ass!" I grabbed the mug while I made silly boxing punches to Pietro's arm, which for him was less than a tickle. We kept joking like that until we left the house and headed to the headquarters. They had like a system so everyday they'd train different skills. Today I had self defense with Wanda, and Steve was teaching us. He started easy, he showed us a few moves and then we had to replay them individually. It was not easy, but luckily I had coordination and agility.

The whole morning was based on repeating those moves, and use them against an enemy, which for now was either a mannequin or a hologram. We were not allowed to use our powers, which was hard to control taking into account you had to focus on different spots. We ended the morning pretty exhausted, as Steve was very demanding. And that was all we did for the next weeks. I spent the mornings training, and I was getting good in some skills. Shooting was not my thing, at all, but I was kind of good at boxing, self defense and all the physical stuff. We also dedicated some days to power control, which was very interesting. Vision was the expert in the field and he tried to help Wanda, Pietro and me.

But as the nature of our powers were different, the way of controlling them was too. My powers, or the part that I could not control, depended on the outside, on the danger that I could felt I was into. It was triggered by outside factors. It was like an independent entity that just reacted when I could be in danger. But Wanda's and Pietro's powers were really tied to their feelings. If they felt nervous, afraid or anxious their ability to control themselves was reduced. Maybe they were not in any danger, but if they felt bad, it'd be harder for them to control it. For Pietro it was tougher, basically because his powers made him be impatient. He once told me that he saw everything in slow-motion, but that he was getting used to it. I didn't completely believed that, it had to be a nightmare sometimes. I usually spent the rest of the day with him and Wanda, if she wasn't with Vision. Nat had her own issues, as well as Steve and Sam, who apparently were looking for an old friend.

So Pietro and I spent a lot of time together, most of it we joked around and pranked people at the labs, including Helen. We were like kids, which was understandable. Wanda told me they were orphaned at 10 and Pietro took care of her. He dedicated his entire childhood to take care of her, and her of Pietro too. They had to act like adults and worry about things that kids can't even imagine at that age. They had to mature pretty fast, so it's normal that now they just wanted to have fun, they deserved it. My case was similar, but I chose to leave my house. I assumed the consequences of that choice and I lived in the streets for about 4 years, until I found Helen. It was hard, but my powers made it easier to survive and make a living, finding poorly paid jobs, but it was enough. And now we just wanted to have fun, live without those worries.

One day we were hiding in the library after pranking some scientists and we sat on the couches placed in the center of the room and I was staring at his white hair.

"I'm sorry but I have to ask, why the white hair? You didn't dye it right?" I've been wanting to ask him for some weeks now, but I thought it was kind of rude. "I mean, it looks good on you, but I'm just curious." He smiled at me, he knew I didn't mean it in a bad way.

"Well, no, I didn't dye it, I'm not that insane. But there are two theories." I listened closely what he said, I was too curious.

"My theory is that it's because of my powers. As those assholes messed with our genes, maybe they touched some regarding hair color. Because I had dark brown hair before. Wanda's theory is a bit more tricky, but it makes more sense than mine. She says it's because of the stress."

"Stress?"

"Let me explain it. At first it was very hard for me to control my skills. We didn't have any training, but for Wanda was easier. For me it was a nightmare. I'd just start running without controlling it, and we were literally caged in small rooms, so I smashed against the walls. I could take it, I could heal, so the pain was bearable. The worst part was when I wanted to sleep, because it didn't stop. I just run towards the walls at night and I couldn't sleep again. And it's hard to sleep even now, I don't get tired and I don't really need to rest my body, but my mind does, and sometimes is really hard to force myself to sleep. To all of this add that everything is slower for me. Imagine being caged for months in a room where nothing happened and living it in slow-motion. So I got really stressed and anxious, depressed and as a result my hair started turning white. I thought I'd go crazy, but eventually, when they trusted us, they let me run in the outside and I started to control it."

He finished talking and I could see he was sad by his expression, his eyes didn't lie. I couldn't stop staring at him. It was not fair that he had gone though that much. I just wanted to hug him, it broke me seeing him that way. So I stood up and hugged him a tight as I could. He also embraced me and we stayed like that for some seconds.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have asked..."

"No, no, it's fine." He let go to face me. "I don't mind talking with you about my past. It actually helps." His smirk seemed true, so I just nodded.

"We should go back." He agreed, picked me up and rushed back home. We had dinner all together, which was already a habit. Sam, Pietro and I went upstairs to play some PS4 for a while. When I was ready to get in my bed some hours before I heard a knock on the door. It was Pietro, who was not wearing a t-shirt, I assumed because he slept like that, but anyway it was a pleasant view.

"I just wanted to thank you for listening me, and you know be my partner in crimes." He leaned on the wall near the door smiling.

"Oh, it's a pleasure." I said joking. "Good night Pietro."

"Good night" he was already in the corridor when he turned back and added.

"You know, I..." but he hesitated and didn't finish. "Nothing. Good night." He then disappeared in the corridor and entered his room.


	8. Chapter 8

_I what?_ Next morning I was still wondering about what Pietro wanted to say. I wasn't going to ask him, but still, I was curious. We were training at the shooting room today; Wanda, Pietro and I and Nat helped us but I was useless with guns. Steve came in the room and I saw how he whispered something to Nat. Then they waved at me and told me to join them. I left the gun on its shelf and approached them. I was nervous as they hardly ever interrupted the training sessions. Maybe I was going on a mission with them. Normally the veterans went on missions sometimes, but Wanda, Pietro and I stayed at home. Steve told me to follow him out of the room to talk.

"You have visit." He was very serious, and that made me a little anxious, as Steve hardly ever was like that.

"Who?" I didn't have friends out of here, but Steve's gaze made me realize who was.

"Your father. I don't know how he found out you were here, but he demands to see you. If you don't want to I'll understand." What was he doing here? Now that I was finally happy he had to come and ruin everything...But I had to finish this now, push him out of my life forever.

"I will see him." Steve nodded and guided me to a meeting room in the upper floors in the headquarters.

"I will stay out here. If there's any problem call me." I agreed, having Steve there made me feel more secure. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

There he was. He hasn't changed much since the last time I saw him about 5 years ago. He should be around his 50 now. He was skinnier so his strong factions stood out more, he looked way older than he should. I had nothing in common with him. There was a long rectangular desk, he was sitting in one of the sides, right in the middle, so I sit in front of him, too near but I wasn't afraid. He opened his mouth to start talking but I cut him roughly.

"What do you want?" I tried to be as serious as I could. I was not longer a child.

"Don't need to be impolite, dearie, watch your modals." Funny that he cared about that at this point as he never did when I was younger.

"So I heard that you are with this team of... _superheroes_ now, the Avengers. I'm not going to lie, I came here for money. You are internationally famous, they even make toys of you and your stupid group, so c'mon, I want a payment. I had to deal with you and pay for your useless education, so I want my compensation." He looked nuts. His hands were shaking. Was he into drugs? That's why he needed money?

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but I don't have any money. They don't pay us. And if they would pay me I wouldn't give you a single cent. You don't deserve it, you never took care of me, or even worry."He started laughing quietly, very disturbingly.

"I don't believe you Ayla." He stared at me for a while, like if he was trying to find the truth and it was written on my face. It scared me for a bit, but I tried to keep it together. He stood up and walked around the table and sit on the chair beside me. I didn't move, just stayed still and I followed him with my eyes.

"Your mother would be disappointed. Not helping your poor daddy..."

"Don't you dare using mom to blackmail me." He grabbed my arm with a strong fast move and lift it. It hurt, but I wasn't going to show any reaction, I wasn't a weak little girl anymore.

"You have no right to talk about her, understood? You took her away from me...And you know what? I did a little investigation. Why would you be here? You are not special at all. You have never been." He slowly took a knife out of his pocket. His hands were shacking even more. He was insane, he had gone completely mad. I was about to call Steve but he placed the knife on my throat.

"Make a sound and I'll cut your head off." He was whispering now, so I lightly nodded. I could feel the cold steel on my neck. Now I was terrified. I knew I could heal, but until what point?

"I went through your birth documents, you were the one who should be dead, but ooh, but you didn't...And now you are here, with these assholes with panties who have powers. Why would you be here then? Could you have some kind of...power? Let's check it out." I was freaking out, he wanted to kill me? I closed my eyes, ready to feel the steel piercing my throat...But instead I felt an unbearable pain in my stomach. He had stabbed me...I place the hand he was not grabbing on the wound. Blood was coming out fastly and it stained the floor and my clothes. I felt I couldn't breath or shout and he was just there staring with an insane smile across his face. And then I started to heal. That's what he wanted to see, he wanted to check if what he thought was real, if I could heal, scape from death. That I killed mom with this powers. The wound healed in about 20 seconds and the pain was gone. I looked at him. The smile was gone, he was processing what he had seen. He dropped the knife and stared at my eyes. It was the most terrifying view I've ever had, I was paralyzed. With a fast move he jumped over me throwing me off the chair and to the floor, putting his hands on my neck.

"STEVE!" Please be outside and hear me, please.

"YOU KILLED HER!" he was strangling me with all his strength. Steve heard me and rushed in the room, shocked at first by the scene and the blood on the floor, but in a fast move he punched him, held him by the arms and threw him on the floor while he shouted.

"MONSTER, YOU ARE MONSTER, I WILL KILL YOU!" I crouched back until I hit the wall and stared at him, at this point I had tears in my eyes and I breathed heavily. I couldn't move, I just wanted to get out of there but my body didn't answered, I was in shock. Steve noticed while he controlled the man that had tried to kill me so he contacted Nat with the earphone.

"Nat, tell Pietro to come, now!" I was shaking and I just saw the image of him stabbing me and strangling me on my head. I didn't notice when Pietro came through the door. Steve ordered him to take me out of there, but he was already picking me up as he usually did and rushed out of that nightmare. He stopped when we were home, he placed me on the couch that was in the ground floor and he knelt beside me. Then he saw the blood and freaked out.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" I nodded while I tried not to cry, but it was hard to keep the tears inside.

"I-I'm okay, I healed." But my voice trembled when I finished the sentence and I couldn't help it anymore and I started crying. This broke Pietro's heart and he embraced me with his huge arms, picked me up again and sit placing my legs on his lap. I felt like a little child while he tried to comfort me with his hug. I placed my head on his chest and he took on of my hands as he kept hugging me with his other arm.

"H-he stabbed me Pietro..."

"What?!" he looked me in the eyes and I just nodded while I cleaned the tears that rolled down my face. "I'm gonna kill him." He was actually being serious but I stopped him fast enough.

"No, no, don't leave me alone." I felt so helpless and afraid that I needed him. He stayed and kissed my forehead and hugged me tighter when I started crying again. I tried to stop but every time I remembered it I couldn't stop the tears. It was not that I was sad or disappointed about my father, it just terrified me that he had found me. After an hour or so Steve and Nat arrived to the house to check if I was fine. They had taken that asshole to the police and S.H.I.E.L.D was secretly taking care of him so he didn't see the light in some years. And the others arrived a little later. Wanda was specially worried about me. I really was not in the mood to talk to anyone, but I didn't want Pietro to leave either, so he took me to the third floor and we sat in the sofa upstairs. He hugged me and placed his head on mine. I rested mine on his shoulder. I could heard his heart and I realized it beat faster than a usual one.

We didn't talk, I was still shocked about what happened. More than shocked...afraid. How had he found me? What if more people wanted to? Would it be that easy? I had a really familiar and bad feeling. This whole experience took me back to my childhood. I remember that he usually got really drunk and shouted at me, blaming me for mom's death and he even tried to hit me some times, but I managed to hide. And having him screaming at me like that again today bring back that little defenseless child I used to be. He made me feel that way, little. Not physically, but mentally. Like I was nothing. Like I was irrelevant. In school it was the same. I was like invisible, I had no friends and I hardly ever spoke in class. I was a pretty lonely child, but at the time I didn't really care or even realize, because I had no one to compare me with. The first one that made me feel like I was relevant was Helen. We were close friends, but sometimes I couldn't avoid thinking that she wouldn't have pay me any attention if I didn't had my powers. That's why I'm afraid of losing them. Would I still be relevant? They made me special...But was I special by myself?

Pietro stayed with me the whole evening and he didn't move, which I knew was hard for him. I had to find a way to thank him. He calmed me, made me feel safe. Eventually I felt asleep when the moon lighted the night. I think he was asleep too. At some point of the nigh I had a horrible nightmare. It was more like a memory, like reviving being stabbed again. But then came the worst part.

 _He jumped over to strangle me, but I couldn't shout, I couldn't call Steve or anyone, he was killing me. Everything was so vivid that it seemed real, I could feel his hands on my neck, pressing with all his strength. I felt terrified again, I couldn't scape, I was sweating and shaking. I heard my name and people talking in the distance, everything turned blurry and I opened my eyes._

I was on the ground, breathing very fast and sweating, it had been just a nightmare but It had been too real. Nat was there comforting me and helping me getting up. And I saw Pietro. He was still on the couch, but Wanda and Sam were trying to pull him up. He was clenching his teeth, he was in pain. He couldn't stand up by himself. Steve and Sam had to help him and they got him out of the room. Wanda followed them, she was scared too. What had happened? Nat took me to my room with Vision and they closed the door when we were in.

"What were you dreaming about?" Vision approached me and sat on the bed beside me.

"That my father killed me, a-and I couldn't shout or move..." He considered it for some seconds and faced Nat.

"She felt in danger, it was not intentionally."

"What wasn't intentionally? Vision what happened?" I already could tell something bad by their faces.

"We woke up because we heard screams. At first I thought it would be you, but they were too deep to be from a woman." Vision started to explain. "It was Pietro. Ayla, your nightmare made your power feel in danger. So it sucked life from the nearest source it found to keep you safe."

I gasped stunned and terrified. I could have kill him without even realizing.

"No..." I stood up and run to the door, crossed the corridor and opened Pietro's bedroom door. Vision and Nat didn't try to stop me, they just followed me. Pietro was laying on the bed. Wanda sit on the bed beside him while Sam and Steve were standing near the wall. He seemed to be asleep, but he didn't look good at all. He had dark circles under his eyes and was very pale, you could see the veins under his skin. His hair was wet probably from sweating. I felt horrible. My father was right, I was a monster. Pietro could be dead if he hadn't scream. I looked at Wanda. She was grabbing her brother's hand and she turned to face me. She didn't seem angry, more like sad, but still I didn't feel I could look at her in some days, I felt too guilty.

"I'm so sorry." And I just left the room. What else could I say? I went downstairs and then to the garden in the back. I sit on one of the benches, I needed fresh air and be alone. I could hurt any of them. I tried to redeem myself thinking that it could have been worse and it was out of my control. But the nightmares after tonight wasn't going to stop easily. I just needed time to learn to control it, and they could not be near me. It was too risky. Specially Pietro. It was going to be hard but I had to avoid being with him that much. I was going to need extra help with my powers. Not even Vision could teach me, so I instantly thought in Helen. She was the one who made them useful in the first place, the one who started everything. Tomorrow I'd look for her after training.


	9. Chapter 9

I didn't sleep the rest of the night, just stared to the sky in the back garden. My mind replayed the past hours over and over, like if I could change something just by thinking about it. I was trying to convince myself about Pietro too. I almost killed him, I was dangerous and I could not be around him in the next days. I wanted to protect him, but I didn't know how he was going to react, if he was going to understand. And it was the same with the rest. I mean, we were all close, but the relation I had with Pietro was way deeper than any other. I could talk with him about everything. We cared and trusted each other. And about Wanda...I didn't know if she was angry with me or upset, but she was my best friend, like a sister. I knew she would understand, she's more grounded than Pietro.

I realized that the sun was rising so I stood up and opened the back door slowly. I was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, stained with dry blood, so I went to room avoiding to make any sound, had a quick shower and put another similar uniform for training. It was like 8 in the morning, and usually training started at 9 so I had some time. I had to talk to Wanda. I walked to her room and when I was going to knock Wanda opened it with her powers. She was sit on her bed, apparently she hadn't sleep either, she seemed so tired.

"Wanda I'm so sorry..." I sat beside her.

"You don't have to." her voice seemed very calm. "I know you would never hurt him on purpose." I was glad she understood, it was a huge relief.

"How is he?" she stood up and I followed her to Pietro's room. I didn't want to talk with him so I wasn't really sure. It's not that I couldn't face the situation, but he had taken care of me the day before and I had tried to kill him, not intentionally of course, but still it was pretty insane. I couldn't be like if nothing had happened. He was still in bed luckily, and he looked better than before. His skin was closer to his normal tone now and he seemed...healthier.

"Vision said he would be fine in some more hours." I went back to her room as I wanted to talk with her and not disturb Pietro, so she came with me.

"Wanda I'm not going to be around as much...Or I'm going to try." She seemed confused. Even if she could read what we thought, she avoided it for the sake of privacy.

"Are you leaving?"

"No no, it's just that...Wanda I cannot let this happen again." She seemed worried.

"We will try to help you..." I sit on the bed, this was not easy to explain and I thought Wanda would understand.

"This is dangerous...Look at Pietro, he could be dead. If it happened again...I won't forgive me. I need to learn how to control it." More than sad she was disappointed, which really frustrated me. She reminded quiet for some seconds, reflecting.

"I understand that you feel...insecure about your power, but I don't want to lose you. You are my best friend Ayla."

"Same, that's why I don't want to hurt you. Or any of the others." Wanda was the closest friend I've ever had. I considered Pietro a friend too, but I felt there was something more, at least on my side. But if I ever hurt Steve, Nat...They were my family, the one I've never had when I was a child.

"If you ever need help tell me, okay?" I hugged her as an answer. I didn't want to put her in any danger, but I also couldn't be away from her, she was like my sister. I was about to leave her room when she added something.

"I don't think he will bear with it easily..." I stop when she said it. I mean, I knew it was harder to deal with Pietro, mostly because he was very impulsive, but maybe she could reason with him.

"Ayla, he has told me things about you...and what he feels. I don't want to say it too obvious, because it's very hard for him to share this things. But you get it." So it was mutual. Wanda obviously knew that at this point I felt things for him.

I started my way to the headquarters a bit earlier than the rest. I wanted to make some distance with them, but I didn't want to feel alone again. I didn't feel like training today, I hadn't sleep much and my mind was blurry, so I decided to skip it and visit Helen. Luckily she was already at the laboratories, in her office so I entered without knocking. She was organizing some documents on her desk.

"Ayla you look terrible."

"Thanks, I love you too." she slightly laughed while leaving the documents and sit on one of the sofas. "Do you have a sec? I need to talk about something."

"Of course, tell me." I sit in the other sofa near hers. I took a deep breath and tried to have everything clear on my mind.

"I had a...little accident yesterday. I hurt Pietro with my powers while I was having a nightmare. He's fine now, but it could have been really bad." she was now really serious and listened closely.

"Helen, I need to control this. I can't let this happen again. Maybe you can help me, or find something I can do, like with the Cradle. That's how I learned to control them in the first place."

"I actually was going to ask you to come around for a project!" This couldn't be more perfect. I couldn't hide my smile. I loved working with Helen, it will keep away from home, and maybe I could even gain control.

"Yes to all, I accept." Without a doubt.

"You don't want to know what it is about?" I nodded, both smiling. "I'm working with Stark to create a better version of the Cradle. More practical, so we could produce a big amount to distribute it in hospitals. Are you in? You would have to do the same as you did in Seoul."

"Absolutely!"

I spent the rest of the day with Helen, I didn't even went back home for lunch. The project really excited me, the idea was brilliant and in the long term it could be very helpful in a global dimension. She showed the first prototype of the new Cradles, which was being built in the moment. It was a bit larger, so everyone could fit in I guess, but it looked less heavy. They also had planned a new design keeping the outside really clean and white. I volunteered to try it when it was ready, as I sometimes did back in Seoul. As I could heal it wouldn't be a problem if the Cradle didn't work, and that way I could also try to check the healing problem without me controlling it. After a long day of scientific chat that I didn't understand I went back home. I wasn't physically tired, but my brain felt like a jelly. Too many things to learn and assimilate. They had already had dinner when I arrived, I didn't realize it was that late. I found them chilling in the living room. All of them except Pietro and Wanda. I wondered if he had already recovered from yesterday.

"Ayla! Where have you been? We were worried." Sam said. The other turned to face me, and they seemed really worried, which at first I didn't really understood why. But with all that happened the night before it was normal that they were concerned.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't contacted you...I have been with Dr. Cho. We are going to work together in a new project, so I probably have to skip training during some weeks." At first they weren't really convinced, specially Nat and Steve. They wanted us to be prepared if something happened and I clearly wasn't. I could fight, but I never had tried with a real enemy. But I felt this project was more important. And being away will keep them safe, and it'd be easier to have this excuse when it came the time to deal with Pietro. We talked a bit more about the project and as I was tired I went upstairs to my room.

I was ready to go to bed when I heard a knock on the door. Please, anyone but him.

"I've been looking for you the whole day." His voice sounded worried, low, which made me feel really bad. I didn't want him to be sad, but I had to push him away a bit. The Cradle was the perfect excuse to not be with him that much, but still...until I was 100% confident about my powers I didn't want to be near him. Only thinking about putting Pietro in danger again made me shiver.

"I'm sorry Pietro, but I'm really tired." I turned to face him. He looked like himself again, which was a relief. But his blue eyes seemed gloomy, which broke me. I wanted to hug and don't let go, but I couldn't. My mind didn't let me. There was like a voice inside my head that forced me to hide everything I felt. He approached me until our bodies were almost touching, really close. His fingers searched for my hand and slowly held it. My skin felt more warm at his touch. This little details he had made my heart beat faster, I could feel it inside and in my head.

"I just wanted you to know that I don't blame you. I know it was an accident." How could he be so kind? I could have killed him and here he was. It looked like he was almost asking me for forgiveness. I took a step back and sit on my bed, basically to make some distance. Being that close to him didn't help.

"I'm sorry." He sit beside me. He was going to say something, probably something that would me feel better about myself but I interrupted him.

"We are not going to be together as much anymore Pietro." This caught him completely unprepared.

"If it has to be about yesterday, I don't care." He was in a complete denial. I knew it was going to happen. If what Wanda had told me was true, and he really felt something, I completely understood. If it was the other side and he would be telling me this I wouldn't let go easily either.

"No, no. I'm going to be working with Helen for some weeks and it's going to consume most of my time." Obviously the reason behind this decision was what he said, but I didn't want to put that as an excuse, as he didn't believe it was a problem. I guess he didn't feel in any danger, but I knew that I could be way more powerful and...harmful. And that feeling of not being in control frustrated me.

"B-but maybe I can visit you there...It wouldn't be the first time I sneak into the labs." He just refused to accept it. I had to try to be more clear, and even mean. I wasn't a great liar, but if I tried to keep my expression neutral it'll work. I hated having to behave like this with Pietro, it wasn't fair. But if not he wouldn't listen. I had to lie.

"Pietro, I don't want you to be there. I don't need you." I tried to be as sharp as I could. But I couldn't look at his face anymore, so I just focused on the floor, I didn't want to see his eyes when I rejected him like this. I could feel how he shattered with every word I said. It was horrible, he didn't deserve that, but now it was too late. He didn't say a word and just stood up and rushed out, leaving a blue trace behind him. In the moment I found myself alone in that room I had a terrible guilt on myself. It was like a hole on my chest that ate from the inside. I didn't plan this to be this...hard. My intention wasn't to push him away forever, just until I learned how to control myself, but I felt like it was going to be complicated to regain his confidence. Another thing that disturbed me was that I didn't know if he was angry, sad, disappointed...or all of that.

I didn't sleep well that night either, the nightmares were back and I felt awful about what happened. I woke up at 5 in the morning and I didn't sleep the rest of the night. I just thought about him, I couldn't take him out of my mind. I tried to sleep again but as I couldn't I finished reading a book I borrowed last week from the library. At around 7 I showered and got dressed. I guess I didn't need to wear the training clothes for some days, so I just picked my regular clothes, which I really missed. I chose some gray skinny jeans and a black graphic t-shirt, as well as my old rusty converse. As I was heading to have breakfast I realized how awkward and painful was going to be to see Pietro. Would he talk to me? Maybe he had understood and he acted normal. We will see. I grabbed a mug and pour some coffee and sit on my chair in the large table. The rest slowly started, to appear and had breakfast too. I shared some words with everyone, so they didn't think I was mad at them or whatever. Every time I heard someone was coming downstairs I freaked out. I really was not ready to encounter Pietro and see how he would act, as he left without saying a word yesterday. I in fact rather be out when he went downstairs. So I washed my mug and headed to the door. But when I was passing in front of the stairs I heard steps and I couldn't avoid looking. And I found his deep blue eyes staring right at mine totally emotionless. He passed by me and ignored me, not saying a word. Yes, it felt worse than I thought. Wanda was walking behind him. She stopped where I was and whispered:

"We will talk later." She didn't seem upset which calmed me, but still she looked serious. I continued my way with Pietro's eyes stuck in my mind.


	10. Chapter 10

It was so hard to focus the next days. Helen understood that I was not in my best moment and that I tried my best to help her, but she couldn't lose time. I didn't sleep well either. Although we were making progresses with the new Cradle, she expected more from me. Life in the house was different too. I hardly ever was there anymore and I felt I was losing them. I hadn't talked with Wanda either and seeing how Pietro ignored me everyday was awful...I'd even prefer if he was angry or whatever, if he showed any emotion at all. But I couldn't bare with the feeling of being invisible. When I took this decision I thought it was going to be easier to put up with, but I guess I'm not as strong as I thought. The good news are that I was actually improving at controlling my powers. Helen told me to try a method, that consisted in making light cuts on my fingers and trying to push away the energy from there, focusing in other parts of my body. I could see the energy flowing towards the injuries, so I just had to try to push it back where I felt it was. It worked sometimes, but it was very consuming and I ended up exhausted. I always healed, but I was able to delay it some seconds. One day, while we were eating, Helen brought up something she had been reflecting about for quite some time.

"You know what your name means?" We were siting on the floor surrounded by documents, having lunch.

"No, why?" I knew it was not very ordinary, which I really liked, but I've always thought that my mom came up with it.

"Well, I look it up yesterday. Ayla is a Turkish name. It literally means _halo of light around the moon._ What a coincidence..." It actually was really shocking. It couldn't be an accident that my powers were related with light and halos. Did my mum know it or...?

"What are you suggesting?"

"Well, what if you didn't, you know...If it wasn't your fault. What if your mum had the same powers as you and gave her energy to you, so you could live? It's actually not that mad. You did the same with Pietro." Now that she was saying it, it made sense. It made a lot of sense. When I saved Pietro I was really tired, I even fainted. My body should have taken the energy from him instead of giving it.

"So if I truly want to give my energy and make a sacrifice, would my power obey me?"

"That's what I think. And I believe that's what your mother did. She couldn't let her baby die." Thinking that maybe that's what happened comforted me, but still I couldn't stop blaming myself. But it wasn't that crazy. And my name was a believable proof of it.

Helen had an appointment that evening and had to go to New York, so as I was not authorized on the labs without her I took that time for myself. I went back home after lunch-time. It felt weird but very familiar, as this past days I usually got here when the moon was already in the sky. I felt a bit lonely. It's not like I could go back in like nothing happened. And besides they all have their own issues, so I didn't want to bother them with mine. I opened the door and found the house really quiet, which was normal at this time. Some of them were lying on the couches at the living room, I think Steve, Nat, Vision and...Pietro. Oh, how much I missed being with him. It is true what they say. You don't know how much you love something until you lose it. I tried to be as quiet as I could, but Steve saw me.

"Ayla!" All of them turned to face me, except Pietro. "It's been so long since we see you around. Is everything ok?" Steve is one of the warmest persons I've ever met, he's constantly caring about the rest. He worries more about us than about himself.

"I know, I wish I could be here more...Helen had an appointment, so I'm gonna be here the rest of the evening." I miss them too. They became a really important part of my life the first months I stayed here, and now I didn't even talk with them.

"Good. Do you want to join us?" I didn't expect that. That simple proposition meant so much actually, they haven't forget about me. I smiled at Cap and the others and joined them in the couches, sitting next to Steve. He was like and old brother, always looking after us. In the moment I sit, Pietro rushed out, leaving that distinctive blue blur behind him. I understood he was still annoyed, but he couldn't even be near me? Steve tapped my back a couple of times, which made me feel a bit better, but still...I missed Pietro.

We stayed there until dinner time, chating like we usually did. It was so nice to be with them and made me realize how much I needed their company. We had dinner all together, even Pietro was there. He obviously didn't look or talk to me, but Wanda did, which was a relieve. We hadn't talk for some time too and I thought she was angry me also. It felt so good to be back. After dinner I helped Sam to tidy everything while Pietro washed the dishes. I looked at him eventually, wondering what he thought, what he felt. What if I tried to talk him? Would he ignore me too? I stepped next to him, feeling really nervous and looked at his eyes. I know I shouldn't, but I haven't heard his voice in weeks. It was so painful to be apart from him that I just had to try.

"Do you need any help?" I meant it, but I was trying so hard to sound as innocent as I could, to make he feel a little bit of compassion at least, to show any emotion. He didn't look at me or even moved his head, just stayed still while his hands moved at an incredible fast speed, finishing in some seconds and leaving everything clean. Then he turned and looked directly into my eyes. I've always said that his blue eyes were like a window to his soul, he couldn't hide what he felt, they never lied.

"I don't need you." Ouch. He seemed sad, but not angry. Although his expression was hard and his voice deep. He turned and walked outside, to the back garden. It was something. He had actually spoke to me.

I went upstairs, to my room. It didn't surprise me to find Wanda laying on my bed.

"You know, I'm trying to be neutral in here, but you just can't go talk to him like nothing happened." Her voice sounded really serious. I honestly think it wasn't that dramatic, I just tried to talk like normal human beings. And besides...I missed him so much.

"Is there something wrong?" Wanda stood up and faced me, she looked annoyed about what I just said.

"Of course! You don't see it, right?" I didn't answer. What was going on? "Ayla, he is destroyed. You absolutely shattered him in a million pieces. And he's trying so hard everyday to act normal, to control himself, to put all the pieces together again...And then there you go, talking to him, like if it wasn't your fault. Ayla, he doesn't sleep, his powers are completely out of control..." I couldn't believe it. I mean, the few times I saw him lately he seemed fine...I thought he was completely over it, that he didn't care.

"Wanda I-i thought he was fine, I swear..." I felt horrible.

"He didn't want you to know, or show any weakness. He will hate me for saying this, but you must know. He still loves you."

"I love him too..."

"Then it's so simple! Tell him the truth, that it was for protection, not because you didn't feel anything for him. It's the only way you both could be happy, you are meant to be!"

"Wanda, I can't!" At this point we were almost shouting at each other. "I can't be near him, I can't risk it! I'd never forgive myself if I ever hurt him again." Wanda sighed and started walking towards the door.

"It's funny though. You are hurting him right now. Not physically. But I think this is harder to heal." She closed the door behind her leaving me alone in my room. The worst part is that she was completely right. How could I be so stupid...Now I've lost both of them...

I spent the whole night thinking about Pietro, eventually crying, but I didn't sleep at all. At 5 or so I stood up and went quietly to the back garden. I took a blanket and sit in one of the hammocks. It was so nice to see the stars and the moon. It calmed me so much. But Wanda was right. I've been so selfish. I assumed Pietro was alright, even knowing he felt something for me. I was heart broken too. But it was my fault, I had assumed the consequences of my decision. But I still had hope that I could fix it eventually. I was actually improving at power control faster than I thought. What terrified me now is what will happen when I'm ready. What if he doesn't want to be with me anymore...What if he hates me. Then I looked to the trees in front of me, as I heard a noise. A really familiar sound. Even in the night, the blue blurr that he left when he run was really noticeable. He seemed to be running in circles around the house, or maybe the whole forest. He was trying to get tired. That's what he told me he did when he could not sleep. In one fast move he stopped in front of a tree and punched it with all his strength. The tree shook and some leaves felt from the top. Now that he was standing still with his fist still against the tree I could see his face. Was he crying? I couldn't really tell. But he was breathing heavily, maybe tired or anxious. I think he didn't realized I was there, luckily. He looked so messed up...And it was my fault. My heart wanted to go there and hug him, but my brain showed what will probably happen if I did that. He running away or ignoring me, which made me feel a huge hole in my chest. I was still looking at him when a red light approached him. Wanda. It went inside his head and although he fought against it at first, after some seconds he let go and Wanda started controlling his mind. She was in the door of the back garden, moving her hands, making Pietro obey her. He walked towards her, expressionless, and got inside the house. Wanda looked at me before heading inside. It was really serious. Pietro had got into a point in which he could only be calmed down by mental manipulation. Obviously Wanda was not pleased about that, but I guessed Pietro had asked to do it if he got too out of control. He must be going through a hell.


	11. Chapter 11

"Ayla, you are coming with us to Europe." Steve told me after waking up in the back garden. We were in the kitchen having breakfast and he wanted to talk in private.

"We wouldn't ask you if it wasn't completely necessary. But it's going to be dangerous and we are going to need some medical support. You would just have to heal if it's necessary, and we can't assure you will be safe. I will understand if you don't feel...ready."

"No, no, I will do it." I wanted to check how I had improved with my powers, and this was the perfect opportunity. I can only go further with them when I'm a real danger. And being away from home for a while will be good for me. I haven't leave this place since I first came inside.

"Great, great. We are leaving today. So prepare yourself, the heli-carrier will be in the headquarters at 12." I was heading to my room to change into more proper clothes when Steve stopped me.

"Ayla, as I said, this is going to be dangerous. You maybe want to say goodbye." So it was that serious.

The only ones who were not coming to Europe were Wanda and Pietro. Apparently they didn't trust their abilities yet, specially now that Pietro had no control over his. I went to my room to change my clothes. I didn't had a proper uniform like Cap for instance, but I had clothes that were modified to resist fire, friction and so. But they looked basically like my usual training uniform. I first had a quick shower and then put on those clothes. As I was getting ready I thought all the "goodbye stuff" Steve told me about. I was afraid, as it was my first mission, but I trusted my powers. Everything will be fine. But I'd feel safer if Wanda came with us. I had to say goodbye to them, which was going to be awkward, as they were angry at me, or annoyed, I didn't even know anymore. I stepped out of my room, having a really nostalgic feeling. It was like when I left Seoul...I closed the door behind me and knock the one in front of me, Wanda's room.

"Come in." As I opened the door I saw Wanda laying on her bed. She must be tired from yesterday and looking after Pietro...

"Wanda, I'm going on a mission." She looked at me confused and stood up.

"Steve said it was going to be dangerous and...well I don't know if we are still friends, but I just wanted to say goodbye..." She approached me and in a fast move she embraced me. I hugged her back really tight, it felt so warm and familiar. I missed her so much. Wait, was she crying?

"Ayla, I want you to be really careful, ok? I can't lose you." She cleaned the tears that rolled down her cheeks. I nodded holding my tears, I didn't want her to worry more than necessary.

"Should I say goodbye to him or..." Wanda grabbed me by my shoulders and shook lightly.

"You must. I don't want to be pessimistic...But if Steve told that it's going to be dangerous, it's serious...If something happened both of you will regret it. So go say goodbye to Pietro, ok?" She hugged one more time.

"He may be angry at you, but he's not stupid, don't worry." I nodded and hugged her back. It was so nice to have her back again. After a while I headed to Pietro's room. I had 30 more minutes until the carrier arrived. The door was opened, but he was not inside. I didn't have much time left, but I had to look for him. I went upstairs, then looked in the rest of the house, even the gym in the basement, but he was not at home, or in the back garden. He had to be at the headquarters. I rushed out of the house, heading to the headquarters. I knew exactly where to go. It was obvious he was not at the labs, and nobody was training so there was one place he could be at. I went upstairs and found the doors of the library opened. I stopped and slowly looked inside feeling really anxious. He was there, in one of the couches, laying with his hands placed on his head. I couldn't tell if he was sleeping, so I approached him slowly, trying not to make any noise. When I was like two steps away from him I stopped and took a deep breath.

"Pietro?" He rubbed his eyes and turned around to face me. His eyes were expressionless, like if he was dead. He had dark circles under his eyes and in general he looked very tired. Man, he looked so bad...

"What are you doing here?" It was funny he asked that, as it was me who wanted to come to the library when we first met. And I didn't really get what was he doing here either.

"I just came to say goodbye." His expression varied a bit, he had the same confused face as his sister.

"I am going on a mission today and Steve said it's going to be dangerous." He turned in the couch and all I could see was his back. So was this the end of the conversation?

"Fine." I sighed and made my way back, the carrier was going to be here soon. I wanted to tell him so many more things, I missed talking with him...But if that was going to be his reaction I was not going to force it.

I arrived to the heliport and all were there. Steve, Nat, Rhodney, Sam and Vision. They were all ready to depart and the carrier was being prepared for taking off in some minutes. Now I was really nervous about the mission, so I tried to shake it walking around. After a couple of minutes they told us everything was ready so we started to get inside the carrier. I was entering the back door when someone grabbed my hand. I slowly turned to see who it was and for my surprise I found his deep blue eyes looking at me. My heart started to beat like the first time he grabbed my hand back at home.

"Be careful please." He looked so worried. He cared about me. I couldn't help it. I pulled his hand and hugged him like I've never hugged anybody. And for my relief, he did the same. Oh my, how much I've missed his hugs, his touch. It felt like our bodies were made for each other, we fit.

"Ayla, we have to go" Steve's voice sounded behind me, but I didn't want to go. I'd stay like this with Pietro forever. He was the one who let go the hug, and looked directly into my eyes, but he was still holding my hand.

"Go." He whispered with a small smirk. But his eyes looked worried. I nodded and made my way inside the carrier. He was still in the port when they closed the doors. I felt so relieved. I caught Nat looking at me and smiling while Steve gave each of us a tablet with the information of the mission. I fasten my seat belt and put on the ear phone as I read the information. Apparently we were going to a little island in the south of Italy. They found an abandoned base of Hydra that now was being used to hide really powerful weapons. We had to destroy them. But the thing is that it was full of soldiers and guards, equipped with those weapons. My mission was, as always, heal anyone who was wounded. But apparently I was not allowed to fight, which I was kind of disappointed about, as I had trained so hard. I had to focus. I could not let anyone be harmed. And I had to come back alive.

 _I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time, but I have been travelling and I haven't had time. Don't worry, I'm back and I have a lot of plans fo Pietro and Ayla. I hope you enjoy this chapter!_


	12. Chapter 12

The heavy rain didn't let me see clearly what just happened, but I heard someone screaming and a huge explosion. The ear phone was not working so I decided to investigate by myself. I focused the energy on my eyes so I could see the halos to find who was wounded. I rushed through the trees of the huge forest while checking the trace of blood and corpses that my team were leaving behind them. I approached the battlefield they were fighting now. There were too many soldiers to handle, even Steve was having a hard time. I checked if the rest were ok and I saw Sam, Vision and Rhodney flying around and shooting. Only one left. I carefully searched for Nat trying to cover myself from the bullets. And then I saw a white trembling light. It was hard to see well with the pouring rain but I could recognize her red hair any where. She was laying on the ground, but still shooting with her gun.

"Nat!" I shouted as I approached her. I quickly picked her up and covered us behind a tree.

"Don't move." She was in pain, she couldn't hide it. Her arm had cuts and most of it was burned, as well as part of the left side of her body. The rain calmed it a bit luckily, but still, it must be really painful. I grabbed her hand and started focusing on her wounds. They were superficial, so it was an easy and fast process. After 20 seconds all her burned skin was fine again and the cuts were closing. I helped her stand up and nodded.

"Thank you. Now go back and don't get shot!" She was already running to the battlefield again while saying this. I looked around, still covered, as I could still heard a lot of shootings. It was ridiculous that they didn't let me use a gun, at least for protection. And the rain didn't help, it was so hard to see. I couldn't leave, it was obvious that Nat wasn't going to be the only one wounded, so I had to stick around.

I was running from tree to tree trying not to be seen on that ocean of bullets keeping track of everyone when a huge explosion was heard, followed by an enormous metal sound that crossed the forest. I knelt to cover my ears as a painful noise got in my brain, like if it vibrated and made my head in pain. It was still not over when I started looking for the source, but it was pretty obvious that only one thing could cause that kind of sound. The shield. Everything was covered in smoke, so I guessed he tried to stop a bomb with the shield, but it must have been too powerful. I looked for Steve really anxious and I fastly found him laying on the ground near a tree. He was not moving, and the shield had been thrown away a couple meters ahead. I rushed to his position while the enemies were recovering from the explosion. I knelt by hi side and put his head between my hands.

"Steve! Steve! Can you hear me?!" He was unconscious, but alive, I could see his halo shining. But I had to take him out of there right away. The soldiers were recovering, I was not going to have time. I saw shadow over me.

"Sam! Rhodney! Take Steve out of here!" They flew down to our spot and took Steve out of sight. They left and I found myself alone in the middle of the battlefield, with no weapons. I could see Nat , but she was pretty far away. The enemies were up again and most of them were pointing at me. I couldn't scape. I heard the bullets coming out of their weapons and all I did was cover my face with my arms, absolutely terrified, but also calmed, assuming what was coming. I expected excruciating pain but after some seconds, nothing came. I saw a really strong white light and felt the palms of my hands burning. They burned really bad, so I opened my eyes to see what happened. My hands looked awful, almost black and the skin was pretty much burned, which hurt a lot, but it was starting to heal. I felt a bit dizzy, like when I overuse my powers. Then I looked around. Most of the enemies were on the ground, with burns too, I could see them. Did I do that? Vision and Nat were paralyzed for a second until they checked I was fine, then made their way inside the base through an underground passage. I was really confused, because I didn't understand what just happened, but I was pretty sure I did it.

I was following them inside the base, when I saw that not all of them were dead. I hid behind a tree, wishing they hadn't see me. They were just three, and only one of them had a weapon. I could handle them. I approached them from the back, first I had to get rid of the one who had a gun. I was going to grab him by the neck, but he heard me, I don't know how, but he did, and the rest too. He placed the gun on my stomach and shot me. The bullet went trough my body, luckily. Even though I felt like my stomach burned, I knew I was already healing, so why not helping it a bit? I grabbed the enemies' hand and started stealing his energy, his life, to use it on my wound. He fell to the ground, not dead, but very weak, and my wound was completely healed. Now the other two. It was the first time I was actually gonna fight something "real", not a mannequin. When I was ready to punch one of the guys, something hit them in the back pretty strongly and they both fell. Steve was there, with Sam and Rhodney. He must have thrown the shield. I was glad to see he was fine.

"Are you okay? You have a lot of blood on your clothes..." Sam flew down to check if I was harmed.

"No, don't worry. One of them shot me, but I healed, I'm fine."

"Go back to the carrier, we will handle it from this point. Make sure everything is ready to take off as soon as we arrive." I nodded to Steve and started my way back to the carrier while they entered the base. I really wanted to go with them, but I had to follow Steve's orders. I ran back to the carrier, avoiding stepping on bodies. I focused on them making my eyes look white. Most of them were dead, and some others were severely injured. I couldn't help them, but I wasn't gonna end them either. I didn't want to kill anyone else. I got to the carrier after 5 minutes of running through the forest. The rain was still falling really heavily, so I made my way in the carrier and prepared everything to take off.

I was going to rest for a bit when I heard a strong noise outside, like wood breaking. I went to check what happened and I couldn't believe my eyes. A freaking tank was in front of me, stepping on fallen trees, making its way to the carrier. No. Without the carrier we'd never be able to get out of here. I went out running and waving, I had to distract them from the carrier, make me the new target. The upper part turned following my steps, so I kept running away from the carrier, to the left. The tank stopped and without hesitating it was shot directly onto me. I avoided it by very little, but it crashed on a tree some meters behind me, which made it explode and a lot of wood and trunks flew over me. I covered as some were falling where I was. They were heavy and some bits nailed on my skin, on my arms and back mainly. It was really painful, and I was not going to heal until they were taken off from my skin. I stood up surrounded by a fog of smoke. I couldn't see anything! I focused the energy on my eyes and I saw three lights, three people who were inside the tank, right in front of me. I had to do it again, when I burned my hands. It was the only way I could possibly fight against a damn tank. I focused all the energy I had left onto my hands until they burned, and a strange light could be seen through my skin. What I did now was just intuitive, it felt like it. I pointed my hands where the tank was and I don't really know how, directed the energy outside, instead to transferring it on to another body, like I usually did. A huge amount of energy came out of my palms, like a bright white light that made the tank blow up in a million pieces the moment the ball of energy touched it. The explosion made me jump back and fall to the ground really hard, making the wooden bits sunk in more in my flesh.

Everything hurt, my palms were burning and I could feel how the wood stang when I tried to move. I was exhausted and everything started to turn black, like that time in Sokovia. I had overused my powers again. I just hoped Steve and the others would see me, I had to come back, I had to. My eyes slowly closed but I had to remain awake, make sure I got back to the carrier, but I couldn't move. I turned around even though it was painful, but I had to check if the carrier was still there. I couldn't see much due to the rain, but I could see its silhouette. No one was there. I tried to focus the energy I had left in my eyes, so I could see their halos when they approached, but I hadn't had enough. The rain falling on my skin calmed the pain a bit, specially my hands, which had not fully healed. I couldn't keep my eyes opened, my body needed to rest to recover energy and heal. So I let go, hoping they would see me, or at least search for me. Before passing away I thought about my friends, whether they'd accomplish the mission. I thought about Wanda and Pietro and how much I wanted to be back with them at the headquarters. And then everything turned black.

 _It was like last time. I could see and hear things, but I couldn't move. I still felt pain in my back and arms. But it was a different kind of pain. Like if they were removing the wooden bits from my skin. I heard voices, familiar voices. And it wasn't raining anymore. So they found me. We were going back home. I felt we were in the air. I could hear Nat's voice, but I didn't understand what she said. The pain slowly disappear after feeling a tiny sting on my arm. We stopped. I heard steps, but I didn't feel like moving or being carried. His voice. I could hear Pietro. And Wanda. But far away, like if they were shouting. Suddenly I felt like flying again. What? I wasn't in the headquarters, I knew it. I was still in the carrier. Where were they taking me? I wanted to move, to wake up, but on the outside nothing happened. A bright white light, pain again, my head hurts. I felt I had controlled over myself again so I tried to move my fingers successfully._

The light blinded me at first, but I quickly was able to see. I needed to know where I was. It was a wide room, with a lot of stuff I didn't know, machines and gadgets, but I saw something familiar. The Craddle. I saw the palms of my hands had healed, and my back didn't hurt anymore. Maybe they used it on me. But who? Was Helen here? As I questioned myself about that place the one of the glass walls slid to one side as a man came in the room. I knew his face, I had seen him before.

"Oh, you're awake! Let me introduce myself. I'm Tony, Tony Stark." Iron Man? Seriously? Oh, it's true, Helen was working with him on the Craddle.

"Welcome to the Stark Tower."


	13. Chapter 13

It's been almost two months since I arrived to the Stark Tower. Helen, Tony and I had been working on the Craddle every single day without resting. It was the same project as we had back at the headquarters, making it cheaper to produce, so we could distribute it around hospitals. The Craddle would change our perception of medicine forever. During this two months I had developed a really good relation with Tony, he was like an older brother, and I was really close to Pepper too. We talked a lot about Pietro, as I missed him a lot and she gave advice and those things. The first days were really hard, I couldn't concentrate and I wanted to return to the headquarters, but they really needed me, specially after discovering my new power. Apparently I could create balls of energy. But as I used my own energy to produce them, it was pure and powerful, even in the smallest amounts. So what Tony wanted was to replicate that energy, which in really small amounts could provide power for a Craddle for years. So we spent this last two months trying to copy the patterns of my energy, because Tony didn't want to use me as the source, as I'd be chained to the Craddle for my entire life, producing energy. And he didn't want to turn me into that, it wasn't fair. Of course we had a few incidents and explosions inside the lab as I learned to control this balls of energy, but I made sure no one was hurt.

Apart from this, I hadn't spoke to Wanda or Pietro in all this time. Communicating from the outside world to the headquarters was difficult, as they had a lot of security. And we were so busy that I couldn't go visit them. But Steve and Nat came sometimes, which was really nice. It was a pity that they couldn't bring the twins with them, but apparently they were going on missions and they were really busy. In the end, I have to say that I was really happy and proud of my job with Tony. We were almost finishing the power source for the Craddle, and Helen and her team were producing a huge number of them back in Seoul.

"I think we did it." Tony said as he put his protection helmet on and I did the same. He placed the power source in the Craddle, which created a replica of my energy with a tiny controlled explosion. He switched it on and apparently there was no problem. It was the first time the power source didn't blow up.

"Alright, alright. Now it's your turn." I took a scalpel and made a cut in my hand, not very deep. I focused the energy away from the wound so it wouldn't heal and put the hand down the liquid that the Craddle contained. It instantly started working, building new tissue structure where the cut was. After some seconds I the cut was healed. We did it. The power source worked!

"Yes!" Tony and I hugged as we jumped around the lab. I was genuinely happy. We had worked on this so much.

"Well, it's about time to throw a party." Tony was already making plans to celebrate as I called Helen to tell her the big news.

30 minutes left until the party started. I could hear music and people were already arriving. Tony had invited the rest of the Avengers, friends and important people that I didn't know about. Also press gathered around the building, but they weren't allowed in. It seemed like a big deal. Pepper had helped me with my make-up and hair. I let her decide as I had never tried those girly stuff, and no one had ever taught me, so she did a couple of braids and then tied them together in a low bun and really soft make-up, nothing too fancy. But the dress was my decision. It was gorgeous. I mean, I was no fashion expert whatsoever, but I had never put on anything more beautiful. It had a strapless neckline, it started black and then faded into a dark purple, then lilac and when it reached the ground it was white. It had a tiny black belt on the waist and then it flowed down beautifully. Pepper was revising the last touches and she led me a delicate choker that she owned.

"Is he coming?" she said while clasping the choker. I was really nervous about that. Since Tony said he invited the rest of the Avengers I had been thinking about him. Were we okay? I mean, last time we saw each other we hugged, but maybe it was only because he thought we'd never see each other again. We hadn't talked in two months...I really wanted to see Wanda again too.

"I don't know. I mean, Tony invited him, but maybe he doesn't want to see me or..." Pepper placed her hands on my shoulders. She looked gorgeous tonight too.

"Don't be silly. Calm down and have fun. You deserve this, you've worked so hard all this time." She was totally right. Just calm down and have fun. I put on my black stiletto high heels and I was ready. Luckily Pepper had helped me with that part, we had been practicing last week so I could avoid falling tonight.

"Now let's see the final result." she was so excited about this, she had had so much fun helping me. I turned around to face the mirror. At first I didn't recognize myself. I didn't look like...me. The make-up was really discreet but still amazing. And the dress. Oh the dress was the best part. I looked like a princess. I felt so beautiful.

"Pepper, this is..." I couldn't even speak.

"I know, I did a really good job. Let's go." We left my room headed to the elevator. The party was in the 12th floor, where he usually did them. It had to be fixed because apparently they had a little disagreement with Ultron after his last party, when he was literally created. We entered the room and it was shocking how much it had changed. Tony had added some lanterns and couches in the terrace. Inside there were two bars, one upstairs and another one downstairs, as well as multiple couches, a DJ, colored lights...A proper party.

"Aww, here are my two favorite girls." Tony kissed our hands.

"Here, take this and enjoy. Look who just arrived." Tony handed me a glass with something orange in it and vodka, I guessed. I looked towards the direction he was and I saw Steve, Nat, Sam and all the gang together in the lounge downstairs. I couldn't content my excitement. I smiled to Tony and then went downstairs as I fast as my heels allowed me. The twins weren't there though. I left the drink on a near glass table and I hugged Steve from the back with a wide smile on my face. He turned and in the moment he saw me, he hugged lifting me, laughing. I think I've never seen everyone in such a good mood, it was fantastic. I hugged all of them on by one, I've missed my family so so much. They looked so elegant, all of the boys wearing fancy suits and Nat was wearing a sexy tight black dress. And then I saw Wanda, returning with the group with a couple of drinks in her hands. The moment she saw me, she quickly left the drinks with a huge smile on her face and making little excitement shouts. I jumped over where she was and hugged her really tight as we both laughed. She looked so stunning with her long red dress and her hair tied up in a ponytail.

"I've missed so so much! We were so worried when you didn't were with the group back at the headquarters!"

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't allowed to call any of you..." I hugged her again, I felt like we were best friends again, like if nothing bad had happened.

"Is he here?" I had to ask, and the sooner I knew the better. She distributed the drinks between the Avengers.

"No, he decided to stay. He's fine, don't worry." I was kind of disappointed, because I wanted to talk with him, but it was a relief too. Although I was really looking forward to have a conversation with him, that situation also made me really anxious.

"Oh, can you help with the drinks? Go to the bar upstairs and ask for two Gin tonics please."

"I'm on it." I made my way to the bar with a smile on my face. Just thinking about being with them tonight, dancing and having fun with them made me really happy. I was so focused on my thoughts about tonight that I didn't notice who was standing beside me asking for drinks at the bar. I took a quick look around and my heart stopped. His white hair stood out above everything. He was wearing a dark blue suit that marked his arm muscles. He slowly turned and accidentally crossed his blue eyes with mine as I stared at him, partly terrified and partly enchanted.

"H-hi." Yep, that's the only thing my mouth allowed me to mumble, as I was literally petrified.


	14. Chapter 14

I expected him to be, I don't know, happy? Or to show any kind of emotion, but we were back to that point. Why? He just stared at me for a couple of seconds and then ignored me right away. What was he doing? I thought we were over this. My stupid brain only came up with bad jokes to make him laugh, or at least smile. I wanted to see his beautiful smirk again. But this is the only thing it could process.

"You look so handsome, did you cut your hair?" And I said with a stupid girly voice. It was actually understandable that he just turned around and left, but in a fast move I was able to grab his hand. I was aiming to his arm, but I wasn't fast enough and it all felt really awkward. He stopped right away and looked at me frowning, which kind of scared me.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to be funny...B-but, I don't know. I'm sorry." I let go and placed both hands on my forehead covering my eyes. I was so embarrassed.

"I'm so stupid." I mumbled for myself. He didn't leave, I could still see him beside me.

"We have to talk." I was surprised it was actually him who said those words. Again, I was really anxious and a bit scared. But yeah, the best thing was to talk and solve this situation, for better or for worse. He walked away to the elevator and found a little hall on the right with some couches, a bit more intimate than the party that Tony prepared. I followed Pietro and sit in front of him. There was an uncomfortable silence for some seconds. Someone had to start so I took the lead.

"Pietro, I'm so sorr..."

"Stop saying you're sorry about everything and prove it." He seemed to be so annoyed. His hands were shaky. I was so confused. He looked at me and I could see all his emotions in his eyes. Anger, sadness, fear...

"You don't understand, right?" I didn't say a word. I really didn't know what to say. Why was he being so rude?

"Ayla, I thought you died. When you didn't return to the headquarters. And then they said that you've been here for two months...You have to understand that I'm not a toy. I'm broken, I don't work well. And I cannot be fixed that easily. And I only agreed to come because Wanda told me you were in Seoul." He took a deep breath before talking again. He was looking his hands, while he tried to sound calm, but his voice broke a couple of times. I felt so guilty.

"When you rejected me the first time, after the accident...you destroyed me. I've never felt that way. And then that time in the kitchen you talked to me like nothing had happened. And you did it again today. Just when I thought I was over you, after I've been working so hard to build me up again, you come and wreck me." He was absolutely right. I've been so selfish. I cut him before he could continue.

"Pietro, I lied." I couldn't look at him. And then I realized. Selfish? I didn't choose the easy path. I chose the difficult, fucking painful path. The easy way would have been staying with him, keep him close, love him. But no. I chose to protect him, leaving everything I felt for him, crushing my heart every single time I saw him. It was my fault, this whole situation, but I did it for him, because he was the most important person in my life and I couldn't stand hurting him. I knew he had suffer too, and it was because of me, but he wasn't dead. Rage started to grow on me. He didn't know shit. Of course I had a hard time too. I loved him.

"What?" It sounded more like a gasp than a word, so I decided to tell him all the truth. All the truth.

"When I told you I didn't need you, I was lying. Ok, it was a fucking lie, I'm sorry, genuinely sorry. I was trying to push you away from me, to protect you. I couldn't take the risk to hurt you, I was too afraid. Pietro, I could have killed you that time. It was so close. But you believed me so easily...That's why I've been away for so long, I tried to take control over my powers so I'll never put you in any danger anymore. Because you know what? I love you." I said it, and it felt so good to finally be talking about this with him. But I didn't know what his reaction would be. He was staring at his hands, like analyzing every word I said. I didn't notice, but I was so anxious I was removing all the nail polish Pepper applied, scratching it with my nails. I still was angry, not at him, but I tried to calm down a bit. An uncomfortable silence surrounded us for some seconds. But I couldn't leave what I had, what I have been feeling all this months inside.

"Pietro, it hasn't been easy for me either. The way you ignored me, like if I didn't exist...That was the worst. I'd have prefer you yelling at me rather than that. Rather than you being emotionless. I just want everything to be like when we met." At this point I was so nostalgic I could feel tears building up in my eyes. Damn, I hated to cry in front of him, it mad me feel so...weak. I searched for his eyes and for once, when I looked at him, we didn't need words to communicate. I could see all he was feeling with just one gaze. Sadness, doubts, regret, rage...

"I'm broken too. I don't sleep, I can't focus...I just want to go back, like when we met." I stood up and I walked away from him, I didn't want him to see me crying. I needed fresh air. I took off my annoying heels and threw them away, I didn't care anymore. For getting to the terrace I had to cross the room where the party was being held, and I didn't want to talk with anyone, I wanted to be alone. I opened the door and tried to avoid the other Avengers. But in the moment I was opening the door to the terrace I found Wanda looking at me and her smile slowly fading while two lonely tears started to roll down my cheeks.

I managed to get to the rounded terrace. It was rather cold in New York, so no one was there. There was a white couch facing the city and some little lanterns lighted the place. I sat on the couch and let the tears silently fall. I was not even sad, I just had too many things inside. I felt so relieved on one side, but guilty and empty on the other. I stayed in the terrace, even thought I was getting cold. I really wasn't in the mood for dancing, drinking or whatever. I'll just wait until everybody left and then I'd peacefully return to my room. After a long while I heard the door of the terrace and steps. It could be anyone, don't look. I didn't move and just stared at the few stars that could be seen in the sky. I tried to focus on that. Someone stopped a couple of steps away from me.

"Do you mind if I sit?" He sounded calmer than before. I took a deep breath and nodded. I looked at him while he sat down. I embraced my legs and placed my chin on my knees.

"Why did you lie?" He leaned a bit to where I was, like if he was begging for an answer.

"Because you are brave and loyal. You'd have tried to help me and that only would have bring us closer." There was a moment of silence but we kept looking at each other. He didn't seem angry or annoyed anymore, which made everything easier. He took his navy blue jacket off and carefully placed it on my shoulders, as I was shacking.

"You look beautiful too." I sighed and smiled, this was the Pietro I remembered. We started talking and joking around, like we did before, like nothing had happened. The hole in my chest instantly was away, we both laughed and smiled. I guessed we were relieved, as we finally let out everything we felt. As we talked we got closer on the couch, as it was cold outside, but also because we kind of attracted each other. I had to feel him close. Every time our hands touched or we had any contact I felt a little shiver down my spine and my heart slightly freaked out. We got interrupted by Wanda, who had went to the terrace without us realizing.

"Pietro, we are leaving in a couple minutes, say bye to your girlfriend!" she shouted from the door with a playfull smirk and she went back inside. We both smiled and he got up lending me his hand. I grabbed it and we went back inside to the Stark Tower holding hands. His hand was way bigger than mine, but it felt comfortable, almost natural. I could see the looks of the other Avengers when we came in and I even heard some giggles from Wanda. I said bye to my friends, hoping to bet back soon at the headquarters, as my work with the Craddle was over. Pietro was the last one. The rest were already leaving, waiting for the lift. We walked away a little a bit, to have some privacy, although they were all looking, trying to not really obvious, even Tony and Pepper. I leaned on the wall as I searched for Pietro's hands.

"So are you going to return?" He bit his lip, seeming really concerned. It was hard to focus.

"I guess, yeah. Tony?" I looked over him, as I knew he was listening.

"Um, of course! In a couple of days she will be all yours, buddy."

I looked over to Pietro and his face was lighten by a beautiful smile.

"Then I'll see you soon." And he really carefully placed a kiss on my cheek. I must say it made me blush and feel my face red. He then turned around and got in the lift with the rest of them. When they left I found myself smiling like an idiot and bouncing. I felt so full and hyped that I was sure I wasn't going to get any sleep that night. Tony and Pepper were still staring at me, they almost looked like proud parents. I think they had never saw me this happy. When I was ready to go to my room I heard a really familiar sound coming from behind me and I saw a blue thing from the corner of my eye. I felt a hand around my hip and another one on my cheek and before I could realize Pietro placed his lips on mine. He really slowed down in the last moment, just the second before our lips touched. I closed my eyes and put my hands searched for his arms. It probably lasted really few seconds, but it felt eternal. I could still feel his lips and himself really close to me when he whispered.

"I love you too." Then he slowly walked back facing me with a smile and suddenly he was gone, leaving that distinctive blue trace behind him. That was my first kiss.


	15. Chapter 15

Three days later I found myself packing the few things I had in my room at the Stark Tower, as all my clothes, basically uniforms, had been taken to the headquarters the day before. I couldn't content my excitement to see Pietro again, although I really didn't know what I would do, how should I react. This had kind of freaked me out his past days, but everything with him was so natural that I just repeated myself that everything will be ok. It was obvious that we were more than friends at this point...but I didn't know if we were dating, if I could say he was my "boyfriend". I had a conversation with Pepper about it yesterday, while we were having dinner. Tony was there too, but he only joined us for making stupid sex jokes related with his speed, which didn't really help. Pepper was sure that he loved me, and that there was no need to put a tag on our relationship, that we should enjoy our time together and don't rush it. No pun intended.

I was ready to leave the tower, so I said bye to Tony and Pepper. It was not a really emotional thing, we would see each other eventually, and it's not like I couldn't take a trip to New York some time soon. The carrier that was taking me back to the headquarters was waiting for me in the port near the terrace. It was a short flight, about 20 minutes. I tried to fight my crossed feelings about Pietro during that time. I still thought about what he told me during the party, that little fight that we had and I wondered if he felt better about his powers. I felt better, the hole in my chest was gone and I didn't feel guilt anymore. Also, the nightmares were gone. The night Pietro kissed me was the first one without bad dreams since a few months.

The doors of the carrier opened in the familiar port of the headquarters and three people were waiting for me. I quickly went out of the carrier and hugged Wanda, then Sam and Steve. Before I could ask about him, Wanda spoke.

"He's training, Steve wouldn't let him skip it." she looked Steve in a playfull way. "We were going to check on him right now."

"Well, he hasn't been in the best conditions to run this past months, but for the last three days he has been breaking his own records." Steve seemed actually surprised that Pietro could run that fast. I mean, he was the fastest man alive. While we talked we went outside of the headquarters, which confused me, as I thought we were going to the training room.

"Where are we going?"

"Apparently the training room was too tiny for Pietro. He almost destroyed the floor. So now he runs around the entire forest." Wanda looked so proud of her brother. Nat was standing where the forest began with a stopwatch in her hand. In the moment she saw me we quickly said hi and we hugged.

"It's so good to have you back." I felt the same way. I pointed the thing she was holding with a confused look.

"What's that for?" Suddenly the blue blur stopped right beside Nat, making her hair messy. Pietro leaned over himself breathing heavily. He still got tired when he runs too fast, but thanks to the increased metabolism he recovered in a short amount of time.

"For this." Nap tapped his back a couple of times. "New record Sonic, 5 seconds faster than last time."

"I can go faster, just let me rest for a minute." he was still breathing fast and deep, looking to the grass. He was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and his uniform black sweat pants.

"A whole minute? Man, the Pietro I know just needs 30 secs." I said joking. In the moment he heard my voice he sit up with a wide smile on his face. He opened his arms and I hugged him resting my forehead on his chest, I could feel him laughing. He placed his chin on my head and then kissed my forehead. Every single one of my insecurities about how to act around him were gone. It was something natural, I just connected with him in a level that I had never had with any other person. We understood each other without having to talk. He held my hand while he rested for a bit. I found myself looking at him, analyzing every little detail of his face. I wanted to remember him like this, with his wide smile. I noticed that his eyes had changed a bit, they were lighter blue. Maybe it was because of the sun, which also shined directly onto his silver hair. He was hypnotizing.

"Ayla?" It took me a couple of seconds to get back to the real world. Wanda was looking at me laughing, as the rest of them. They obviously had caught me staring at Pietro.

"I'm sorry, what?" I felt kin of embarrassed, but I found the situation funny also. Pietro leaned a bit, bringing us closer so our foreheads were almost touching.

"They said they were going home. Go with them, I'll be there in a sec." I nodded smiling with a slight blush on my cheeks and walked towards the house with the rest. Nat stayed with Pietro to keep track of his timing, but I could listen her.

"You are ridiculously cute together."

The first thing I did when we got home was checking if my room looked like when I left. I opened the door and at fist sight everything seemed to be the same. There was a little of dust on the table, but the room was cleaner than I expected. I left the bag on the bed and checked other stuff, like if my clothes were there. When I opened the closet I found it was fuller than I remembered. I went through the pieces that hanged there until I saw something really familiar. The dress I wore at Tony's party a few days ago. It had a note attached to it. It was from Pepper, I could recognize her hand writing. The note said:

 _I hope you don't mind, but I felt like you needed some sexier pieces now that you have a boyfriend. Excuse Tony, he also wanted to add some stuff. Good luck and lots of love, Pepper._

Excuse Tony? What did she mean? I checked my new clothes, there were plenty of dresses, skirts and upper pieces too. Everything was very Pepper, like clean and elegant. And then something flashed on my mind. It was Tony, and I thought I knew him good enough by now. I looked inside the drawers on the right side, where I kept my underwear. Yep, it was full of silk and lace stuff. Could you even call this clothes? Like it could barely cover anything. Some pieces were ridiculous, like where the hell is this supposed to go? But some of them were a bit more conservative, like a really short blue silk dress with lace on the v-neck. That one was actually really pretty. It felt weird owning all this stuff, as I've never felt sexy or girly. Clothes had never been my priority, but now that I didn't have to worry about having something to eat or earning money, as I did when I lived in the streets, I thought I could allow myself to feel a bit more...attractive, I guessed. And I bet Pietro would love some of these, but I'll keep it for a special occasion.

I wandered a bit more and I finally sit on my old bed. It was then when I realized that something was missing on my side little table. My white rose, it wasn't there. The on that Pietro gave me when I saved him. Maybe nobody watered it and it died. I heard a knock on the door, although it was opened.

"I want to show you something." Pietro was leaning against the door with a side smirk. I followed him to his room He opened the door and let me enter first.

"You've never been here, right?"

"I actually have. But you were not conscious..." The memories of that day made me feel a bit sad. I sit on his bed and looked around. I've never payed special attention to his room. It was not as messy as I expected. But then it came to my mind that he would be able to tidy the whole house in a matter of seconds, so it was not big deal to be a little bit organized. He realized about my mood change and quickly searched in one of his shelves.

"When you left it was almost dry, but I took care of it. I don't know, it reminded me of you." He turned to face me with a glass vessel in his hands and a white rose. He sit on his bed beside me. I carefully took the vessel and looked at him. Sometimes I got surprised by how sweet he was, as he was that big, muscled and manly. Although it was not a side he shared with everyone.

"Thank you, Pietro." He took the vessel and rushed out of the room, probably went to mine and left the rose there, but he was back before I could realize. He leaned back on his bed, so I did the same, placing my head on his chest as he wrapped his arm over me. I hugged him with one arm, placing it around his rib cage.

"I don't want to rush this." I couldn't content a little laugh, and he did too.

"You know what I mean. For once in my life, since I got my powers, I don't mind living in slow-motion."

"That's actually a little bit unfair. You literally spend more time with me than I do with you." He laughed, but it was true. And what he said was flattering, like I was glad I could make his life easier. I probably would be mad if I had to live in slow-mo, I've got no patience whatsoever.

"So you seem to know stuff about relationships. At least more than I do." I was curious, he probably have had girlfriends.

"Nothing serious. Most of them were just...like to get favors without them knowing. I'd hook up with the girl at the groceries store, for example, so I could get free food, or steal it. The only girl in my life was Wanda at that time. I just needed to make sure she was ok, so I tried to get everything she needed. I didn't mind to you know, flirt a little bit. But it meant nothing. I'm not proud of it now that I look back, but...we had to survive." I knew living in the streets was hard, but I never had to get to that point, nor I didn't want to. It was hard for me to trust man back then, mainly because of my father.

"What about you babe?" Pietro rolled a bit to his left side so we could look at each other's eyes.

"I've never have a boyfriend or anything. Actually you are the first one who kissed me." I smirked at him, because he seem oddly proud about that.

"You gave me your first kiss?"

"Well, you stole it." That was true, but I was glad he did it, I wouldn't have had the guts to take the first step. I could fight a tank but I couldn't handle a kiss, great.

"But you'd have been the first anyway." He pulled me closer and hugged me, I placed my hands on his chest and lifted my face closer to his neck.

"You may not be the one I kissed the first. But you are my first love." I put one hand in the back of his neck, as I looked up, reaching for his lips. I kissed him shortly, and then he placed another one on my lips, longer. I think we stayed like this for the rest of the morning, sharing kisses and eventually talking about future plans until we both fell asleep on each others arms.


	16. Chapter 16

_I've been away for a long time, but I'm back. This chapter is the longest I've written. Pietro and Ayla get a little sexy time, you've been watned. I hope you like it!_

One month later.

"Come on, we're going to repeat one more time!" This is the thing I've heard the most during this last month. Wanda, Pietro and I trained together, and as we were in our best shape, mentally and physically, he tried to push us a little bit further. Pietro had never run faster, Wanda could lift a plane if she wanted, and I could control every single trace of energy on my body. Steve wanted us to be prepared for anything. He was also really positive lately, apparently Sam and him had found the person they had been searching all this time. Nat often went to Clint's house to spent sometime with his family. And Vision and Wanda were now really close. And about Pietro and me, we obviously had our problems, but all in all we were really happy. We spent most of our time together. The main issue that we had was that we couldn't get really physical. Pietro's powers went out of control when we tried to go a little bit further in our intimate time. It was a bit annoying, but it was not that much of a big deal, or I didn't want to make it big, as Pietro felt really bad and he tried really hard to control himself. Apart from that, we couldn't be more in love with each other.

"We have been here for hours, do you want to kill us or something?" We had been preparing some group attacks for some time now. The idea was basically that Wanda had to lift a heavy piece about 3 or 4 meters, then I had to blow it, while she directed the pieces and Pietro rushed picked and threw the parts that fell down. Sometimes Steve shouted us different instructions or add things to the training battlefield so we had to improvise. This time he added puppets that acted as civilians, so Pietro had to get them out of the way. So we repeated the attack. Wanda lifted a huge rock that she had previously moved inside the training room. I waited some seconds until it was stable in the air, and started directing a considerable amount of energy to my right hand until it started to glow. When Pietro was ready I directed the palm of my hand to the rock, making it blow the second the energy touched the surface. Wanda had to direct the traces that fell down to the front of the room, while Pietro took one by one the puppets out of the way without being hit by the pieces of stone. Finally Steve was content about today's workout and he let us go. It was later than usual and the three of us were really tired, specially Wanda, as Pietro and I could recover faster.

"Do you think he's doing this with a purpose? Or it's just for keeping us fit?" Wanda's voice stopped between each question to take a deep breath. Pietro's chest also went up and down faster than usual, so he just lifted his elbows.

"What do you mean? Like if he was preparing us?" I wasn't that exhausted anymore, I recovered faster than them. Wanda nodded, kind of worried. I thought about it some seconds.

"Well, it actually makes sense. We are the next generation. We haven't been on real battlefields as much as them. I mean, Steve participated on a World War, Sam was a soldier too and so on. I think he is preparing us. Who knows what we will have to fight." I realized as this last phrase came out of my mouth that I assumed that we were going to be together in the future. I wish it was like that, but you never know. I was really worried about it, basically because of our powers. The scientists of the headquarters started investigating how our cells worked not long ago, motivated by Helen. We didn't know how long we were to going to live, and that really stressed me. Were we immortal? Would I be able to heal myself and avoid death for years? But I was more worried about Pietro. How long will he live? What if each time he run and pushed his body further that consumed his time here? We already knew he had limitations with his healing powers. I hadn't share this thoughts with him, I found them really scary, but I had talked with Wanda about it. She thought that Pietro and I would live way longer than a normal human, maybe not immortal, because everything has an end. And due to our healing powers we may never look old, as the skin cells would heal. But she was convinced she will age and die eventually like a normal human. She apparently had been thinking about this for a long time now, as her ideas were very clear and she had assumed her fate. The future really scared me.

"I don't like when they treat us like kids. We haven't fought as many battles as them, but we have had our moments too." His voice took me out of my thoughts. He was pressing his lips, really annoyed. We kept walking towards the exit of the headquarters. This last days had been really cold, as December had just started and most of the days it snowed pretty heavily. I loved snow, and today was one of those days, we could see the white garden through the headquarter's back doors. Pietro didn't mind the snow, but he hated the cold. It made him slower, not much, but enough for him to feel it. We got to the house and left our coats in the entrance. We joined Vision, who had cooked lunch. I didn't eat much and as soon as we finished, Pietro and I went to my room. We were tired and the cold didn't help, so we got inside my bed. He hugged me with his left arm and I placed my head on his elbow, looking to the ceiling while I played with the shapes of his shirt on his chest.

"This month is my birthday." I was really excited about this one. When I was a child I never celebrated it. But last year Helen brought a cake to the laboratory in Seoul, which was kind of embarrassing. So I was really happy I could spend it this year with my family.

"I know." I could notice by the sound of his voice that he was smiling.

"How? I haven't talked about it."

"I'm a good boyfriend, I do my research." He picked my hand and started playing with it caress it slowy.

"I don't know yours." I felt kind of bad. It's not that I wasn't interested, it's just that I normally didn't celebrated it.

"It was the 15th of October. You were at the Stark Tower around that time."

"Did you do something special?"

"Oh yeah, they organized a surprise party, but I...I was not really on the mood. Wanda enjoyed it though." We didn't talk much about those months, we both wanted to leave it back. I noticed that he was kind of gloomy now.

"So, are you preparing something?" I wasn't that curious, but I wanted to lighten the mood.

"I'm not going to tell you anything, it's a surprise." I rolled over him faced him, pulling my best puppy face.

"That's not going to work this time." He placed his hand on my back. We were both smiling.

"Fiiine, I'll wait." I crossed my arms over his chest and rested my head there. I closed my eyes, just relaxing. Now that he mentioned the surprise, I was kind of curious to see what he was doing. I was going to insist but when I opened my eyes he was looking at me with a smile on his face. With a fast move he wrapped his arms around me and left me on the bed so we could face each other.

"You drive me crazy." I placed my hands on his neck and cheek, blushing a little bit, and I slowly moved closer and kissed him. He placed his hands on my waist and back moving them slowly and kissed me back. We played with our tongues while our hands played with our bodies, bringing us closer while our kisses turned more intense. I could feel all of his body slightly moving and pressing against mine. It was so hard to contain myself sometimes, I wanted to go further with him. And it was tough for him too, but we knew we had to slow it down when his hands started to shake. As nothing happened, we kept going. I kept kissing him, slower but very passionately. His hands searched for the unexplored parts of my body he had never been able to touch, as I slid one hand below his shirt, scratching him a little bit. We usually got to this point until he lost control. But again, nothing happened. I was able to mumble something between each kiss.

"Are you okay?" He just nodded and lightly moaned. Let's go further. I pulled his t-shirt up and he fastly got rid of it while I took mine off. I slid one leg through his waist so I could sit on him, on his stomach, and leaned to kiss him again while my hands explored his torso. His hands went from my thighs to my back, searching for my bra to untie it. But in that moment a strong knock on the door scared us, which made Pietro lose control and run towards the wall unintentionally and I ended up siting on the bed.

"Ayla! Pietro! Down here, right now!" It was Steve on the other side of the door.

"You have to be fucking kidding me..." Pietro was siting on the floor and punched the wall behind him.

"Give us a second!" I shouted while I put another t-shirt that I took out of the closet. I heard Steve talking while he went downstairs. I put the shirt on and gave Pietro his clothes back.

"It must be important, let's go." I lend my hand so I could pull him up, although he didn't need it.

"I know, I know...but it was going so well." He seemed to be really annoyed, but he was true, he had contained his powers further than ever.

"If you've done it once it'll be easier next time." We went downstairs where the others were gathering. Everyone was there, including Tony and Clint. There was a man I didn't know with long hair and what seemed to be...a metal arm? He was standing with Sam. If they had gathered the whole group it couldn't be good. Steve was pretty serious.

"So the rumors are true, the quick little bastard has a girlfriend." I haven't had the chance to be with Clint that much, only in Sokovia, but Pietro and him have had their moments, so they enthusiastically said hi to each other while I went to hug Tony. I haven't seen him in almost a month.

"Ok, you'll have time to catch up later." Steve's voice was deeper than usual.

"Fury contacted the headquarters about 30 minutes ago. There has been an attack in San Francisco, civilians have died, but we still don't know how many. Three bombs had exploded in the east part of the city. After this, soldiers with black uniforms have been seen in the area."

"What do we have to do in all of that? Isn't the police taking care of the situation?"

"The attack was planned, and they found remains of some weapons and traces of bombs which were really familiar."

"Hydra..." The man with the long hair was the one who talked. There was a lot of hate in his voice. Then Steve continued.

"S.H.I.E.L.D is going to evacuate the area from civilians and armed forces as soon as we get out of here. You have 15 minutes to prepare yourselves and be in the heliport." Right after finishing Steve, Sam and the other man left the house directing to the headquarters. I was still assimilating everything when everyone started to move to change into their uniforms and pick weapons if needed. I had a really bad feeling about this, last time I had to fight against Hydra I almost died. I wanted to move, but I was starting to feel a lot of fear growing on me. This was not my thing, I didn't like fighting or war. I saw Pietro's blue trace going up and down stairs, handing things to Wanda until he stopped in front of me, placing his hands on my cheeks.

"What's wrong babe?" Knowing that he would be my side along with the others made me feel safer, but even having trained my powers and really controlling them, I felt insecure.

"I'm really scared Pietro." As soon as I said it he wrapped in warm hug and kissed my forehead.

"I'm scared too." I didn't expect that. I actually have never pictured Pietro being afraid.

"I'm going to be there, we're all going to be. I'll make sure you're safe, I promise." I was still scared but that calmed me a bit. I nodded, trying to take deep breaths.

"Now get ready, ok?" I nodded again and he kissed my cheek before starting to run around again. I went upstairs to my room and put on one of the many black uniforms I had. I also went to the bathroom to wash my face and tied my hair up in a ponytail. I get down and headed to the headquarters' heliport with the others. We were all there in less than 15 minutes. Tony, Clint, Nat, Rhodney, Steve, Sam along with mysterious man, Vision, Wanda, Pietro and I.

We got into the jet, except the ones who could fly, they followed us closely. Steve gave instructions to each of us, but we already knew what was our task. I had to look for any civilians that may have been left behind, as the bombs made a few buildings collapse and they maybe people trapped, although the police had clear the area a few times and then join the group to fight. Pietro had to run around the perimeter and check how many enemies we had to face and then return to the ground group, which were Wanda, Steve, Nat, Clint, the man, who apparently was named Bucky, and I.

In about 10 minutes we were flying over San Francisco, so we all activated the little earphones so we could communicate easier. It was easy to see the attacked area from the windows, a lot of smoke was still floating in the sky. The jet stopped near the area and dropped us there. Right after, Pietro started running to check the perimeter. In a few seconds he was back and informed the group.

"They are a less than I expected, about 200 soldiers and about the same number of drones, maybe less. They're gathering in the south side, back there. About the weapons, I didn't see heavy stuff. No tanks or so."I still had a bad feeling about this. Why were there so few soldiers? They knew the Avengers were coming and they send this? It's suicide.

"Thanks Pietro. Don't be trustful, maybe they have more waves planned. So either way, be careful." Steve also thought the situation was weird, I knew it. After this, we started to take our place. Pietro and I started searching for civilians, as the rest went to the back part to face the Hydra soldiers. I focused energy on my eyes so I could see halos. I saw a few people trapped on the upper floors of various buildings, so I just pointed them and Pietro rushed to get them and leave them in an emergency hospital they have prepared some meters away from us. We kept doing this for a few minutes until the whole area was clear.

"I think we're done." I said as Pietro approached me. He was ready to pick me up and run with the other when I saw another little halo in a collapsed building, near the emergency hospital.

"No no no, wait. There's someone there, it seems like a child." I could tell by the color of the halo, almost white.

"I'll go, it's near the hospital, I'll carry the kid. Go with the others to check how they're doing. I'll tell you on the earphone when I'm done."

"Are you sure?" He was worried.

"Yeah, they may need your help. Go." Pietro nodded and rushed were the group was. I could start hearing gun shots and explosions. I needed to do this, I couldn't leave that child there, it was like in Sokovia over again. Thank God I saw him. I went to the point as fast as possible, searching for the halo. Even though the building was collapsed, it seemed to be pretty stable right now. Luckily the kid was not trapped, he just had broken his ankle, I could tell by the light. As I came closer I saw that he was younger than I expected, maybe 5 or 6 years old.

"I'm gonna help you, okay? It's not going to hurt anymore." the kid was crying, but as soon as I placed my hand on his ankle and started healing he stopped sobbing.

"See? It's fine." I helped him to get up, picked him up and started going to he emergency hospital. It was not far and as soon as they saw me with the kid a couple of doctors that were helping approached me and guided me to the last tent. They were covering their faces with white masks, which was weird. They were not sick, just injured, and there were not toxic gases or whatever. I handed the kid to other person that was in the tent, and immediately checked if he was fine. I was going to leave but everything happened so fast. Someone grabbed my hands, putting them in my back. I didn't have time to react, as I felt a few stings in my neck and my arms. They threw my earphone away. They pushed me and I felt on my knees. I couldn't feel my body and my view was turning blurry. I was losing control of my body, I couldn't think clear. I fell to the ground, but I didn't feel pain. They used a sedative on me? One of the fake doctors was talking to the kid. Their accent was really similar to Pietro's.

"You did a really good job, you trapped her!" He was congratulating the child. It was a trap. They wanted to kidnap me, that's why they were so few soldiers, they didn't want to fight the Avengers, they wanted me. And I made it so easy for them. I felt I was falling asleep. At this point I couldn't feel anything, any part of my body. My eyes slowly closed. They had me. Hydra had kidnapped me.


End file.
